The National Youth Day festivities, set to take place in Naga City next year, has been postponed due to the raging coronavirus pandemic, according to CBCP News.

The gathering will now take place in a still undetermined month in 2022, the youth arm of the Philippine bishops’ conference said.

Fr. Conegundo Garganta, executive secretary of the Commission on Youth, said that the Covid-19 situation still constitutes a major concern.

“The Archdiocese of Caceres continues to commit to hosting a physical gathering of NYD not in May 2021 but in 2022,” Garganta said.

“We pray that things will improve and that 2022 will be a better year for our young people to come together,” he said.

It will be the first time that Caceres will host the national youth event.

In 1986, the bishops’ hierarchy declared every December 16 as National Youth Day.

The event is held in a different host diocese every two or three years, with local celebrations taking place in the intervening years.

The last NYD was held in Cebu City in April 2019 and was attended by more than 20,000 pilgrims from across the country.

Church leaders have earlier decided to move the grand celebration of the 500th anniversary of Christianity in the Philippines from April 2021 to April 2022.

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