Portugal’s government expects to spend €36.5 million on hosting the next World Youth Day – or WYD2023, as it is also known – an event for young people organised by the Catholic Church, to be held in Lisbon and neighbouring Loures in August 2023, with the presence, hopefully, of Pope Francis. Yesterday’s Council of Ministers approved an increase of €20 million, plus VAT, in funding after Lisbon city hall had warned in the past that it alone could not foot the whole bill.
