Thousands of teenagers brought the 2025 National Catholic Youth Conference (NCYC) to a close with a nighttime Mass in Indianapolis, marking the end of three days of prayer, community, and encounter. Around 16,000 young people gathered inside Lucas Oil Stadium on Nov. 22 for a liturgy that many described as a moment of deep unity and renewed faith.
Archbishop Nelson Pérez, who concelebrated the liturgy with more than two dozen bishops and over 240 priests, said the experience revealed the beauty of the Church. “It’s the Church in its splendor,” he said, according to Catholic News Agency (CNA). “Tonight, we experienced the Church in its splendor.”
Preaching on the eve of the Solemnity of Christ the King, Pérez invited teens to look at kingship through the lens of the Gospel. He noted that worldly rulers sit on thrones of power, but the kingship of Jesus overturns those expectations. “When I think about a king, I think about palaces and big thrones and power and authority,” he said, according to CNA. Yet, as he told the young people, “His throne is a cross. His crown is not made of gold and gems. It’s made of thorns. He doesn’t wear fancy, beautiful, priceless rings on his hands. He has nails.”
The archbishop reflected on the pattern of Christ’s Paschal mystery in the Christian life, describing it as continual conversion. The mystery of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection is “a dying and a rising — dying to sin, dying to the parts of our humanity that might be warped and wounded, and rising to new life to renewal of our soul,” he explained, according to CNA. That pattern, he said, repeats throughout life “over and over and over again until we die in Christ for the last time and then rise with him.”
His message culminated in a reminder that every young person is loved by Christ, linking his homily to the pope’s words from a digital encounter with NCYC attendees the day before. “Christ loves you just as you are,” Pérez told the teens, citing what Pope Leo XIV shared with them, according to CNA.
The archbishop urged them to recall the pope’s comparison of friendship with Jesus to friendship with those closest to us. As Pérez recounted from the Holy Father’s conversation: “Think of your closest friends. If they were hurting, you would walk with them, listen, and stay close… Our relation with Jesus is similar. He knows when life feels heavy, even when we do not feel his presence, our faith tells us he is there,” according to CNA.
Pérez highlighted the pope’s encouragement to cultivate interior silence and honest prayer: “To entrust our struggles to Jesus, we have to spend time in prayer… We can speak honestly about what’s in our hearts,” he said, quoting Pope Leo, according to CNA. Daily moments of silence—whether in adoration, Scripture, or simple conversation with the Lord—help the heart recognize Christ’s voice. Pérez shared the pope’s assurance: “‘Little by little, we learn to hear his voice, both from within and through the people he sends us. As you grow closer to Jesus… Do not fear what he may ask of you. If he challenges you to make changes in your life, it’s always because he wants to give you greater joy and freedom. God is never outdone in generosity,’” according to CNA.
The archbishop said the pope’s willingness to speak directly with the teens made this year’s NCYC stand out. He described the encounter as “what made this NCYC epic, really epic and different from any other,” according to CNA, adding that the enthusiasm of young Catholics and the Holy Father’s “generosity and willingness” to engage with them fueled the event’s impact.
As the stadium emptied and the conference came to an end, Pérez said the witness of so many young Catholics worshipping together left him hopeful. In a world marked by division and unrest, he said that after seeing the faith of the teens, “I’m just so full of hope. It’s almost like we’re going to be OK,” according to CNA.
“It’s incredible to see the young Church alive,” he said. “It’s such a beautiful, beautiful gathering,” according to CNA.
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