I’m not going to lie. 2025 is a year I’d rather not revisit.

• Yes, it was the Holy Year of Jubilee 2025 “Pilgrims of Hope”.
• Yes, we lost Pope Francis and gained Pope Leo XIV.
• Yes, Carlo Acutis and Pier Giorgio Frassati were canonised as Saints.
• Yes, there were heritage transport trips and watching movies with my father.
• And, yes, I got my (total) step count up an awful lot during the year.

​But, looking back, I cannot see any of the positives for the shear, personal weight of disappointments that have dogged me throughout 2025. (As well as bouts of F.O.M.O.)


At the start of the year, I thought I had a direction as to what I should do only for that smallest glimmer of something—anything—to be taken away. That seemed to be the running theme: think that you might finally get something, or somewhere, and then have it taken away from you. Again.

I expended an awful lot of my energy going basically nowhere, which resulted in my art being the most visible casualty of 2025. Not aided by personal events and the ‘Artificially Intelligent’ miasma afflicting all terminally-online-artists that is: why bother?
As well as treating any brief spark not as an invitation to creativity but as something that had to be put through the third degree of a capitalist cost-benefit analysis loop that buried both the spark, and myself, ever deeper into disembodiment. What point is there in creating if The World is just going to continue in its agenda to eradicate every last place on the face of the Earth that a creative might find to take shelter in and, maybe, even meaning.


2025 was, for me, exemplified by isolation and disconnection. Peer-to-peer faith gatherings that no longer pretend to be for anyone not already living within 10–15 kilometres of the events. Trying to gather interest for things by yourself to mark the Year of Jubilee only to be left by the end of it with a distinct impression that I was at the very bottom of everyone else’s social list or not even registering on their RADAR. Not to mention seemingly everyone else and their dog deciding to disconnect from all social media and not informing anyone whose only connection to those said same people is through social media of what they’re doing BEFORE they do it.

I hope everyone else enjoyed the 2025 Jubilee because my year was shit!


Vincent Cavanagh
8 January 2026

This is mostly down to the year, for me, starting with a “sort of” setback which left me in a disoriented state for the first quarter of the year, or so, and not well disposed to doing anything particularly creative in the direction of new artwork. Nor did I feel it worthwhile to post anything about my father and I visiting the Sydney Bus Museum in Leichhardt for one of their open days, or our second visit to Hunter Valley Steamfest in Maitland either, or attending the 2025 Hunter Valley Airshow.

What has been occupying my attention, after a brainstorming session of possibilities with my mother, has been planning, mapping, testing, organizing, promoting, and leading Young Adult (18–35) Pilgrimages to the four Jubilee Shrines of Hope in the Diocese of Broken Bay for the 2025 Jubilee Year of Hope:

• St Mary Immaculate Manly – Shrine of Hope for Priests and Vocations.
• Our Lady of Dolours Chatswood – Shrine of Hope for Young People.
• St Patrick’s and the Shrine of JPII East Gosford – Shrine of Hope for Families.
• Our Lady of the Rosary Cathedral Hornsby (Waitara) – Cathedral of the Diocese of Broken Bay.

​The whole effort was started, for the most part, because I didn’t expect anyone else to try and do something Young Adult-focused at a Diocesan–wide level for the Year of Jubilee, and because the Diocese itself had a reshuffle of ministry appointments and parish placements such that the former monthly Young Adult gatherings of previous years were dropped from the calendar without ceremony. For all appearances curial priorities had changed and if anything was going to happen Young Adult-wise it would have to be a self-initiated, grassroots affair, which I threw myself into with far more effort and emotion than strictly necessary. These pilgrimages are meant to give my fellow peers an opportunity for pilgrimage during this Year of Jubilee who aren’t able due to financial or familial circumstances to go overseas on pilgrimage to Rome like many others are doing. The four pilgrimages are spaced out to be once every second month to aid in giving a sense of the Jubilee truly being a year-long event and not just a blink-and-you-miss-it four-weekend marathon done-and-dusted, don’t-need-to-think-about-it-again situation.

It is a moot point as to whether a four-weekend marathon mightn’t have been a better draw card for the intended audience, given that there have been only a handful of pilgrims turn up for both the first pilgrimage to Manly in March for the relic of St John Vianney and the second to Chatswood in May to visit the relic of Blessed Carlo Acutis. It’s depressing when spur-of-the-moment picnics and such get higher turnout from young adults than the thing that’s had so much blood, tears, and effort poured into it to give them an opportunity to gain the Year of Jubilee Indulgence and a reduction of a chunk of our time in Purgatory currently accrued to each of us individually — and that is worthwhile! ¹

I have to regularly remind myself that these pilgrimages aren’t a “me”–thing, they are from and for God — He’s the one who sparked the whole idea of organizing these walks — for purposes that only He knows the end result of, I’m just here to organise them. If even only one person shows up, that pilgrimage was successful.

​
If you or anyone you know would like to join along for next two pilgrimages, the dates are as follows:

• 26 July 2025 – St John Paul II Pilgrimage to St Patrick’s and the Shrine of JPII East Gosford.
• 13 September 2025 – Our Lady of the Rosary Pilgrimage to the Cathedral.

​¹ The Jubilee Indulgence is explained in an accessible and down-to-earth way to all by Bishop of Wilcannia-Forbes Columba Macbeth-Green in the video linked below:

​Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord, and let perpetual shine upon him. May he rest in peace.

   I will endeavour in this personal, reflective piece not to repeat things that I have already written much about before.

   ​LISBON World Youth Day Week started on a Tuesday, 1 August 2023, which makes keeping track of events personally in one’s mind rather difficult. Later on, at times one could be forgiven for the honest mistake of losing, or even gaining, a day on your internal calendar.

It is traditional that the location of the next WYD is announced at the end of the Mass with the Pope at the Vigil location.
​
And the next World Youth Day is…

…in Seoul, South Korea in 2027. Not earlier because there will be a Jubilee Year gathering of young people in Rome during 2025. So much for my mother’s hopes of an English-speaking, southern-hemisphere location like New Zealand or even Melbourne. But at least the time difference from Seoul to Sydney is only an hour.

These concrete arches are part of the transport hub of Oriente Station (buses specifically, in the photo above), which providentially was within walking distance south of the Vigil site – and even more providentially took us back to within walking distance of our hotel. The transport hub at Oriente Station has taxis, buses, metro, local trains and regional trains. Because it was crowded, we had to wait to get in.

On a very hot day, do pilgrims take their gear and sleeping bags to the hotel first? Not if a McDonald's is on your route. Ice cream first!!

Then after all the bagels for the meals of the previous 24 hours, comfort food was in order. This is what a burger meal from Lisbon, Portugal looks like. Compared to the burger buns we get at home, this bun was nicer.
​
Only then, after having cooled down and refuelled, did we head for our hotel rooms – for showers and to try and catch some sleep after not getting much the night before at the Vigil site.

The huge stage at Edward VII Park is now under deconstruction, and that’s sad to see because it is a visible sign that World Youth Day Lisbon is over. Despite the crowds, despite the heat, despite all the other inconveniences, it was still a taste of what Heaven’s joy and peaceful unity in diversity will be like.

The lyrics from the WYD Sydney theme song continue to hold true:
​
“Every nation, every tribe, come together to worship You.
In Your presence we delight, we will follow to the ends of the earth.”


Vincent Cavanagh   #bbwyd
#wydlisbon   #wyd2023   #lisboa2023
6 Aug 2023, 1.04pm Portugal | 6 Aug 2023, 10.04pm Sydney

On the Saturday (5 Aug), after breakfast, we received a blessing from Bishop Randazzo over all the Broken Bay pilgrims.​

At the end gave us his advice, as a fellow introvert — "you wouldn't think so" — for dealing with the impending Sensory Overload: take deep breaths, while saying the name of Jesus as you do so.

Given the growing heat of the day, and the lingering exhaustion from previous days, I took the opportunity to go on ahead to the Vigil site with the advance team, rather than end up passing out on the 15 km walk to Tejo Park. Irrespective of in-built breaks to the walk, I had no stamina to chance it.

On the ride-share towards the Vigil site, we were passed by the Papal Convoy returning from Pope Francis' visit to Fátima. He went to Fátima earlier that morning to pray the Rosary with young people who have special needs. There’s a news report on Instagram that says a young woman with blindness sincerely asked God to heal her of blindness as she prayed that Rosary at Fátima with the Pope, and she was healed.

Due to the crowds and blocked roads, we continued our way on foot to our designated spot near the WYD Stage/Altar. On my pilgrim credential in large, big black letters is A05, which is code for which area at the Vigil site I needed to go to (the green section in the Vigil site map shown below).

Please don't be under any illusions, just because we got there early doesn't mean that what we were doing was any less penitential than the tens of thousands of people trekking all the way from central Lisbon.

Sitting on the ground, with only an umbrella for shade, guarding a near tennis court–sized tarpaulin for your diocesan group against other encroaching dioceses is not fun. Especially not when you're sitting under the Iberian sun for up to 6 hours waiting for all of our Broken Bay pilgrims to finish arriving.
​
The current plan, to do the events at the Vigil site justice, is to write about them once I get home [ed. ~ one-year later!]. Unless windows of time open up while I am travelling home, 10-12 Aug, the writing will have to wait until the following week.

​
Vincent Cavanagh   #bbwyd
#wydlisbon   #wyd2023   #lisboa2023
9 Aug 2023, 7.47am Portugal | 9 Aug 2023, 4.47pm Sydney

Since Pope Francis’ arrival on Thursday, every major venue we go to from now on, requires us to go through a security checkpoint before entering the major venue.

Here’s our sightscreen view of Pope Francis’ arrival on stage, which marked the beginning of the Way of the Cross. Another name for this is Stations of the Cross. These 14 stations mark the journey of Jesus from being sentenced to death on the Cross, to His burial in the tomb. Sometimes a 15th Station of the Resurrection is added. With the traditional Way of the Cross, three falls along the path to Calvary are marked, at the 3rd, 7th and 9th Stations. After each fall, Jesus gets up again and continues to the top of the hill of Calvary.
​
At each Station there is usually a meditation on what happened at that Station, some expected response from those gathered, for example an Our Father a.k.a. the Lord’s Prayer, and, when prayed in public, usually a stanza from the Stabat Mater, either said or sung, in between each Station. The Stabat Mater is a 13th century poem about the sorrows of Mary, mother of Jesus, at the Cross of her Son.

To return to our hotel, we go down this street and take the first right hand turn. You can see from this photo just how full this side street is of pilgrims. This street is perpendicular to Edward VII Park, which looks like a long-sided rectangle from above. showing the third testimony of faith

After each of the three Stations that mark a fall of Jesus on his way to crucifixion, there was a personal testimony from a pilgrim. The person in the photo gave the third testimony after the 9th Station of the Cross.

​
My reflection upon the Way of the Cross at WYD:

The Way of the Cross yesterday was certainly not what I was expecting.

It was interpretive breakdancing upon the whole of the altar-stage in Eduardo VII Park. Lisbon of course being a home of breakdancing.
 
Radios were made virtually redundant by how loud the speakers made the announcements of the Stations, coupled with how the orchestra blended into those same announcements. Irrespective of language, the volume all but drowned out any radio translation, with or without headphones.
 
Although we had a good position next to the Marquês de Pombal Monument, we were behind two sets of loudspeaker arrays. Hardly the best position for receiving clear audio.
 
The Vatican's Facebook page was doing a Facebook LIVE video feed, but this was comparatively more delayed than what was being shown on the large sight screens.
 
For example, we could see the Cross (when it wasn't obscured by a tree) being moved across the WYD stage in the distance before the video feed we’d got showed them starting to move it.
 
O the joys, and pains, of long-distance telecommunications. Continue to pray for all those who are constantly working to keep these things up and running so that we can see anything, delayed or not.
 
In the end, for our Australian group at least, we ended up using guess work and a Stations of the Cross card to try and figure out where we were up to when we couldn't hear the Station number.
 
But we could tell when Jesus fell under the Cross three times. There were short, pre-recorded video testimonials of faith and turning back in openness to our Heavenly Father. Thankfully all of them were subtitled, even the last one which was by an American Catholic (USA).

At the end of each testimonial the video feed cut to show each person sitting in the crowd, up close to the stage. All of them were caught by surprise when they saw themselves on the big screens.
 
In the midst of all this whirling soundscape of orchestra, dance beats, and Station intentions being read out in multiple different languages, there was a moment to just look around you and truly take in just how massive this all is.

The street behind us was filled up back across two, if not three, street intersections.
 
St John Paul II was right in saying that WYD is not so much saying that the church is for young people as telling, and showing, them, "You are not alone."
​
From memory, the experience of the Stations of the Cross at WYD Sydney in 2008 was good if you were in front of the stage or watching it on television. But the experience was very similar to mine if you didn’t have the combination of a good view of the sight screen and good audio.

Look for a sightscreen shape, on the right-hand side near the tree line, then look for the long part of the Cross at a 45 degree angle with blue sky on both sides of it. The horizontal beam of the Cross is barely visible behind the screen logo. The close-up camera angles were probably wonderfully dramatic for those watching at home, but they made what was going on near incomprehensible to us.

There were still a lot of people milling around, possibly waiting for a clearer path to wherever they were off to next. Some would have gone looking for dinner, some would have gone back to their hotels for a rest, and quite a lot of them went to a big ecumenical concert at a stadium where Matt Maher – the Canadian musician-composer – was performing his music, and at which Bishop Barron – founder of Word on Fire, Catholic media organisation – was due to speak.

​
Vincent Cavanagh   #bbwyd
#wydlisbon   #wyd2023   #lisboa2023
5 Aug 2023, 11.23am Portugal | 5 Aug 2023, 6.23pm Sydney

We’ve pegged out our spot for the Welcoming Ceremony.

Walking to our spot for the Welcome

Look at them go; they’re on a mission from God.

On his journey around the crowds before reaching the main WYD stage.
There was a sense of peace, something like a cloud of peace, around Pope Francis as he was driven around the crowd of pilgrims.

What we can see on the sightscreen as Pope Francis gives his address to the crowd of pilgrims. Certainly, look out for the transcript of this address, it was very good.

Here’s a paragraph from the English translation of his address (1 pm, 4 Aug); only the Spanish translation was available this morning (1 am, 4 Aug). God bless all those working as translators for us.
​
“You are not here by accident. The Lord has called you, not only in these days, but from the very beginning of your days. He called you by name. Let us listen to the Word of God that called us by name. Try to imagine these three words written in large letters. Then consider that they were written within you, on your hearts, as if setting the direction of your lives, the meaning of who you are: you have been called by name. Each of us is called by name. You, you and you, all of us here, myself included: all of us have been called by name. Not impersonally, but by name. Think of this: Jesus called me by name. His words are inscribed in our hearts, and we come to realize that they are written in the hearts of every one of us, as a kind of title that tells people who we are, who you are. You have been called by name. None of us is a Christian by chance; all of us were called by name. At the beginning of the story of our lives, before any talents we may have, before any shadows or wounds we may be carrying in our hearts, we were called. Why? Because we are loved. This is something beautiful. In God’s eyes, we are precious children, and He calls us each day in order to embrace and encourage us, to make of us a unique and original masterpiece. Each of us is an “original”, whose beauty we can only begin to glimpse.”

Everyone sitting down and actually listening.
His address definitely touched hearts.
What I remember most is: ‘God loves you as you are, not as you think you should be (in order to be loved/loveable)’

We won’t see him again until the Stations of the Cross, tomorrow night, and at the Saturday night vigil, and at the Closing Mass on Sunday. On Saturday morning, Pope Francis is visiting Fátima and spending time with young people who live with illness.


Vincent Cavanagh   #bbwyd
#wydlisbon   #wyd2023   #lisboa2023
3 Aug 2023, 8.10pm Portugal | 4 Aug 2023, 5.10am Sydney

This is one of the four major basilicas in Rome, all with Holy Doors. The others being St Peter’s, St John Lateran, and St Paul outside the walls.
​
In the mid-4th century, the then pope received a dream containing a request from Mary, mother of Jesus, for a church to be built in her honour at a place that would be pointed out to him. Then in the hottest part of the year snow falls in Rome – that’s the place. On the anniversary of that fall of snow in 434 AD this heaven-requested basilica was consecrated. On that anniversary, 5 August, the Church continues to celebrate the optional memorial of the Dedication of the Basilica of Saint Mary Major.
 
Close up of apse and altar area

It is truly breathtaking when you walk in for the first time.
The mosaics you can see here date from the 5th century.
 
Main body of the nave, facing the entrance.

From this photo you can see that the basilica is built in the very early basilica shape: long nave, colonnades giving entry to side naves, and a large apse. The opulent parts you can see date mostly from the 16th and 17th centuries.
 
Where we had Mass today

This chapel is officially known as the Borghese Chapel, and its major focal point is the beloved icon of Mary, Salus Populi Romani – Salvation of the people of Rome.
Mass was (low style) Ad Orientem, since the altar is attached to the wall, and not free-standing, the bishop and priests offered Mass with their backs to us.
 
Close up Salus Populi Romani

The reason the icon bears this name is due to a miracle that saved the people of Rome from plague. Later in history, Pope St Pius V gathered the people of God around this icon to pray the rosary begging God for victory in the battle of Lepanto. To commemorate that victory each year the Church celebrates the memorial of Our Lady of the Rosary on 7 October. More recently, Pope St John Paul II commissioned a copy of this icon to accompany the World Youth Day Cross around the world. Many recent popes have prayed before this icon to seek the intercession of Mary, mother of Jesus, as they begin their apostolic journeys around the world.
 
Exterior

The large pillar at the front topped with a Marian statue, and the very tall bell tower behind the basilica of St Mary Major are its distinguishing exterior features. Which is important, because after a while all these big, wonderful churches start to look the same from the outside – especially when you are visiting four churches in one day.
 
 
Vincent Cavanagh   #bbwyd
29 Jul 2023, 7.07pm Italy | 30 Jul 2023, 3.07am Sydney