'The young pope': Pope Francis' legacy with young people

(OSV News) -- Wyatt Olivas still remembers when he met Pope Francis while serving as the youngest delegate at the Synod on Synodality at 19 years old.

"I remember waiting in line shaking and just very nervous," he told OSV News about their meeting at the Vatican in 2023. "Then as soon as we locked eyes ... this calmness came over me -- and it felt like the feeling of home and 'you belong.'"

Today, the 20-year-old college student attending the University of Wyoming in Laramie called the late pontiff, who died April 21 at the age of 88, "the young pope" because of his youthful heart and embrace of young people. Olivas and other young adults shared how Pope Francis personally impacted -- and continues to impact -- their lives. He saw them, they said, not as the church's future, but as the church now.

In agreement, Catholic leaders in youth and young adult ministry also recognized the broader impact of Pope Francis, who led the Catholic Church from 2013 to 2025, on the church's tone toward young people.

"The first thing is even in the words that we're using, 'youth' and 'young adults,'" said Paul Jarzembowski, associate director for laity at the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' Secretariat of Laity, Marriage, Family Life and Youth. "He's made a distinction between the reality of youth and the reality of young adults."

Most recently, for the 2025 Jubilee Year, Pope Francis scheduled two different jubilee celebrations: One for teenagers or youth where he planned to canonize Blessed Carlo Acutis, who died at 15 in 2006, and the other for young adults, where he planned to canonize Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati, who died at 24 in 1925. Blessed Carlo's canonization, originally scheduled for April 27, has been postponed due to the pontiff's death.

During his papacy, Pope Francis made history, including with young people. He not only served as the first Jesuit pope and the first pope from the Americas but also called the church's first global synod on youth and young adults in 2018 and, in 2019, released the first papal exhortation on young people, "Christus Vivit" ("Christ is Alive"), Jarzembowski said.

"There's the legacy of Pope Francis on young people and then there's the legacy of the young people on Pope Francis," Jarzembowski said, pointing to Pope Francis' openness to listening to and including young people.

The young people and leaders who spoke with OSV News described Pope Francis as a pope who was old in age but young at heart, a pope who practiced what he preached, and a pope who met young people where they were and accompanied them.

"He's the pope that is on the dirt path with us," Olivas said. "He's willing to get his hands dirty with the young people."

At one point, he and other young synod delegates asked Pope Francis why he invited young people to the Synod on Synodality, the first global synod in modern times to include voting lay delegates.

Pope Francis, whom Olivas described as always smiling and ready to joke, became serious. He responded, "I invited you here to make a mess."

"He said, 'If you say something, I know you mean it with your full heart,'" Olivas said, adding that "to young people, he knows that we'll say it to your face. We'll say the truth."

Olivas said interacting with Pope Francis changed his life forever.

"I will continue to be this missionary of synodality ... making sure everyone's heard and seen and felt," he said.

Other young people shared their stories, including Marie Miller, a folk-pop singer and songwriter, who received an invitation to perform in front of Pope Francis in 2015 at the Festival of Families in Philadelphia.

"I remember being at a real crossroads with my music career, spending a lot of time in prayer asking God for clarity," the 36-year-old recalled. "I was genuinely wrestling with whether to continue this path or move in a different direction."

That changed when, at age 26, Miller was invited to perform in Philadelphia.

"Talk about a clear answer to prayer -- something I will always be grateful for!" she said, adding that Pope Francis even gave her a thumbs-up during her performance.

A Philadelphia native, Anjelo Rocero also saw Pope Francis during his 2015 visit to that city. Today, the 30-year-old serves as a team director in Boston for the Fellowship of Catholic University Students, or FOCUS. The international Catholic outreach organization ministers to more than 200 college campuses and more than 20 parish communities.

"I was kind of struggling with my faith a little bit, seeking answers from God," Rocero remembered. "Just seeing the pope in person, I just felt that God was real."

Pope Francis' writings also influenced Rocero, particularly his 2013 apostolic exhortation "Evangelii Gaudium" ("The Joy of the Gospel").

"It kind of just made me be more evangelistic, to go out to the fringes and to be a light of Christ to people that don't know him," he said. "And his call to evangelize so many people and to yet be a witness to them has just been a part of my call as a missionary to this day."

As a result of Pope Francis' approach, Jarzembowski at the USCCB said that the church learned the importance of pastoral care for young people and, in the United States, the bishops released a pastoral framework for ministries with young people called "Listen, Teach, Send."

He also noted "a shift in our approach to young people during Pope Francis' pontificate, a shift from young people as a recipient to protagonist."

On a larger scale, Pope Francis took World Youth Days -- a global gathering of Catholic youth and young adults -- to the next level, moving them toward digital engagement, renewing their missionary element and focusing on the marginalized in the host countries, Jarzembowski said.

At the same time, Pope Francis recognized the importance of being with young people in the little moments. Jarzembowski recalled his words during an International Congress on Youth Ministry in Rome in 2024.

"He reminded us that ministry and engagement with young people is about the small steps, the simple words, the less spectacular experiences, that actually bears the most fruit," he said.

At the Synod on Synodality, Olivas remembered Pope Francis wanting to meet and connect with everyone -- and would even arrive at meetings 45 minutes early to do so. He recalled his own moments with Pope Francis, from the pontiff happily agreeing to sign a note excusing Olivas from classes to repeatedly exclaiming, "Elegante!" when Olivas once wore a pink suit.

For Olivas, Pope Francis' legacy with youth and young adults will continue after his death.
"He will continue that mission of praying for the young people," Olivas concluded. "We can always use him for that intercession ... he's not going to stop."