Eucaristic Youth Movement
Eucharistic Youth Movement (EYM) is an International Movement for the Christian formation of children, young, and young adult people.
EYM invites young people around the world to live in Jesus’ way, in a heart-to-heart relationship of friendship with him, based on a Eucharistic spirituality for the mission.
It is founded on the pedagogy of the Emmaus disciples: Gospel, Eucharist and Mission.
Worldwide movement
EYM is the second-largest Catholic youth movement, with over 1M children and young people across 60 countries on 5 continents.
Pillars
Following the Emmaus pedagogy, EYM integrates the Gospel, Eucharist, and Mission inseparably with the spirituality of the Heart of Jesus.
Common foundation
Like other communities within the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network, EYM follows the formative itinerary of The Way of the Heart, adapted to different stages of development.
Prayer moments
EYM members follow the prayer rhythm proposed by the Network, offering their lives (“With Jesus in the Morning”), aligning with His presence (“With Jesus in the Afternoon”), and reflecting on their day (“With Jesus at Night”).
Our story
A Journey That Began with a Call to Pray!
Our story starts with a simple but powerful request from Pope Pius IX: he asked all Catholics to support him with their prayers and sacrifices. Inspired by this call, a French priest named Father Cross had a brilliant idea: why not invite young people to join this important mission? This was the spark that started it all.
The idea was a huge success and spread like wildfire. To give you an idea, by the time the first International Congress was held in 1881, we already had 100,000 members worldwide! Even Saint Thérèse of Lisieux was part of the movement from the age of 12.
A Boost from a Pope and a New Name
Later on, Pope St. Pius X gave us a special focus: he encouraged children to receive Holy Communion and asked them to pray for peace during a time of war in Europe. This led to the International Eucharistic Congress of Lourdes in 1914 calling for “a great Eucharistic league of little ones.” A year later, in 1915, we became known as the “Eucharistic Crusade.”
A Fresh Start! The Eucharistic Youth Movement is Born
The story takes another exciting turn in 1962. We officially adopted the name we have today: the Eucharistic Youth Movement (EYM). This wasn’t just a name change; it marked a complete renewal of our teaching style to better connect with young people. This new energy quickly spread to other countries.
Today, the EYM is the youth proposal of the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network and is present in over 60 countries across five continents. Our main goal is simple: to help young people build a personal friendship with Jesus, using the Gospel and the Eucharist as our guides. We are now the second-largest Catholic youth movement in the world!
