Pope Leo XIV surprised the more than 1,200 young people gathered at the II Diocesan Youth Day of the Prelature of Chota and Cutervo with a video message in which he invited them to live a “holy rebellion.” Recoletos.org speaks with Msgr. Víctor Villegas, OAR, to discover what lies behind those words and how they reflect the pastoral work the Church has been carrying out with the new generations.
The Church in Chota and Cutervo needs your holy rebellion, your pure energy, your desire to transform realities of pain into spaces of hope.
With these words, Pope Leo XIV surprised the more than 1,200 young people participating in the II Diocesan Youth Day of the Prelature of Chota and Cutervo, in Peru. The Holy Father’s video message, shown a few minutes before the Eucharist, became the most moving moment of a gathering celebrated under the theme “Called to love, sent to serve.”
But that phrase was not a simple exhortation. For Msgr. Víctor Villegas, OAR, prelate bishop of Chota, it summarizes the path the local Church has been traveling for years alongside its young people.
A surprise from Rome
The Pope’s message had been prepared in absolute secrecy. Not even the bishop himself knew of its existence.
The surprise, however, was nearly revealed when he received a call from the Holy See to confirm some details related to the video message. When he asked what was happening, the vicar general ended up confessing to him with a smile: “We wanted it to be a surprise for you as well.”
Even so, the content remained secret until the beginning of the Eucharistic celebration. In his message, Leo XIV congratulated the young people who had come from the 18 parishes of the Prelature and reminded them that Christ does not call them to a comfortable or conformist life.
“Jesus does not want you to be armchair youth, drowsy or settled in the comfort of ‘it’s always been done this way,'” the Pontiff stated, before delivering the phrase that would mark the entire day: “The Church in Chota and Cutervo needs your holy rebellion.”
A rebellion prepared throughout the year
For Msgr. Víctor Villegas, those words from the Pope describe exactly the goal of the Prelature’s youth ministry.
I believe that work with young people is fundamental. I have told the clergy and I insist: if we do not work with them, we are going to lose a great deal.
The II Diocesan Youth Day is not an isolated event. Behind it exists an accompaniment process that involves all the parishes and develops throughout the year.
The Prelature is organized into four pastoral zones and each one annually celebrates a Festi Joven, gatherings that keep the work with youth groups alive and prepare for the great diocesan gathering.
“This is the result of very detailed work over three years,” the bishop explains.
Thanks to that sustained effort, the day brought together young people from the 18 parishes of the Prelature, as well as delegations from Cajamarca, Chiclayo, Santa Cruz, Bambamarca and even some participants from Ecuador and Bolivia.
More than an event, the Diocesan Youth Day is the meeting point of a ministry that accompanies young people throughout the year and encourages them to discover that faith can also be lived with joy, commitment and missionary spirit.
A Church that walks alongside young people
The day began with a pilgrimage through the streets of Cutervo led by the Missionary Cross and the images of Saint Rose of Lima, Saint Carlo Acutis, Saint John Paul II and the Virgin Mary.
Then came vocational testimonies, formation, Eucharistic adoration and an intense moment of reconciliation, in which more than twenty priests heard the confessions of the young people.
The Eucharist, celebrated in the afternoon and open to the entire city, also gathered hundreds of faithful who wished to join the youth celebration.
It was precisely before the celebration began that the Holy Father’s video message was shown.
At the end of the Mass, the joy was even greater with the announcement of the authorization granted by the Holy See for the canonical coronation of Our Lady of the Assumption, patroness of Cutervo, news received with great emotion by the entire community.
“The bishop must become one with the people”
In the days that followed, a video began circulating on social media in which Msgr. Víctor Villegas appeared dancing and participating in activities alongside the young people. Many began affectionately calling him “the bishop with the most flow.”
Far from downplaying those images, the bishop considers them a natural consequence of his way of understanding the episcopal ministry.
If the bishop does not become one with the people, if the bishop does not become one more among his people, they will always see us from below looking up, and that cannot be.
Msgr. Villegas advocates for a close Church, where the shepherd shares the daily life of the people and does not remain distant.
The vestments do not make the bishop. The bishop must become one with his people.
That is why he does not hesitate to participate in activities, walk with the young people or dance with them when the occasion calls for it.
The bishop must be with the young people, must be with his people, must put on his boots, sweat alongside them. The bishop’s work is to accompany his people, share with them, cry with them, laugh with them and dance with them as well.
An invitation that goes beyond Chota and Cutervo
The words of Pope Leo XIV transcend the reality of a Peruvian prelature. His call to live a “holy rebellion” challenges the entire Church and, especially, the new generations.
It is not a rebellion against the Church, but against indifference, conformism and complacency. It is the courage of those who discover that following Christ means going out to meet others, transforming pain into hope and serving wherever each person lives.
That was precisely what the young people of Chota and Cutervo experienced during a day that did not begin with the Pope’s video message nor end with the evening festival. It was the visible expression of a Church that has spent years believing in its young people, walking with them and entrusting them with the mission of proclaiming the Gospel with the joy of those who know they have been called to love and sent to serve.
