PHOTOS: Thousands of youth pilgrims line up for confession in Circus Maximus in Rome

Vatican City, Aug 1, 2025 / 13:45 pm

Thousands of Jubilee of Youth pilgrims headed to the Circus Maximus in Rome on Friday to receive the Church’s sacrament of reconciliation.

While patiently waiting in long and winding queues to have their confessions heard at the ancient site — where Christians were once martyred for their faith — pilgrims told CNA why seeking God’s forgiveness is important for them.

Booths stand near the Circus Maximus during a reconciliation event in Rome, Friday, Aug. 1, 2025. Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/CNA

Touched by Pope Leo XIV’s reminder to young people that “hope does not disappoint,” Canadian Angie Alvarez Salinas from the Archdiocese of Toronto said she believes “the love of God triumphs” over any sin.

“Confession is that renewal,” she said. “Like how Jesus said, ‘I make all things new’ ... You’re made clean and you’re made a ‘new creation.’”

“It gives you hope knowing that no matter what you have done previously or whatever your path, your struggles, or your sufferings are,” she said, “God knows you at the deepest level and he just wants to shower you with his love.”

Crowds line up for confession during a reconciliation event at the Circus Maximus, Rome, Friday, Aug. 1, 2025. Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/CNA

Braving the Roman heat to get to the Circus Maximus by midday, Australian Louis Shu, who joined a 70-person international delegation organized by the Pallottine Fathers and Brothers, said he was surprised and moved to see so many people lining up to talk one-on-one with a priest.

“Confession is something that young people might shy away from,” he told CNA. “I think especially in the last few years that there’s been a change or something in the air that’s really bringing young people back into the Church.”

Booths stretch out near the Circus Maximus during a reconciliation event in Rome, Friday, Aug. 1, 2025. Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/CNA

“People are searching for meaning, people are searching for God, for Jesus,” he said. “And I think this Jubilee Year of Hope is definitely a way of bringing young people back in.”  

“I think it shows that the Church is alive and that young people still go to Church,” he added.

Iraqi Nicholas Dastafkan told CNA he believes confession is the most important sacrament after baptism as it makes you feel like “a reborn baby without any sins.”

A penitent kneels before a priest during a reconciliation event at the Circus Maximus, Rome, Friday, Aug. 1, 2025. Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/CNA

“There is no church in the city I’m living in Turkey,” he said. “But whenever I find a Catholic church or even a Catholic priest on the street I go to confession.”

Grateful for the spiritual advice he has received from priests, Dastafkan said their words are like a “charger” that reenergizes Christians to live their faith in their daily lives.

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For Filipino seminarian Vinnize Rey Pilapil, who is accompanying a youth delegation from the Philippines, seeing the “enormous number of people” at the Friday jubilee event dedicated to prayer and penance was a surprise.

A penitent receives absolution during a reconciliation event at the Circus Maximus, Rome, Friday, Aug. 1, 2025. Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/CNA

Emphasizing that it is Jesus Christ himself — not the priest — who absolves sins, Pilapil said the desire of wanting to go to confession is a sign of grace that someone is being “called by God.”

“You are telling your story and you’re confessing your sins to Jesus himself,” he told CNA. “As we know in the Gospel, he listens, he welcomes you, he embraces you, and, most especially, he pardons all your sins.”