Pope Leo XIV capped a week-long Jubilee of Youth on Rome’s outskirts with an open-air Mass that drew more than one million young Catholics, according to Vatican estimates. Landing by helicopter at the Tor Vergata field before touring the crowd in his papamobile, the pontiff presided over the largest gathering of his nearly three-month tenure, part of the Catholic Church’s Holy Year 2025 programme. In his homily, the 69-year-old pope urged participants to “aspire to great things” and “spread your enthusiasm and the witness of your faith” when they return home. Calling the pilgrims “the sign that a different world is possible,” he appealed for conflicts to be resolved through dialogue rather than arms and voiced solidarity with “the young people of Gaza and Ukraine.” During a vigil the previous evening he told the assembly that friendship and justice can transform society. The Vatican said the celebration included about 7,000 priests and 450 bishops. Leo also asked for prayers after the deaths of a 20-year-old Spaniard and an 18-year-old Egyptian pilgrim and for a Spanish youth who remains hospitalised. The Jubilee, held 25 years after Rome’s last mega youth gathering, is expected to help draw some 32 million visitors during the Holy Year and sets the stage for the next World Youth Day in Seoul in 2027.