A Meeting “for” the Young and “with” the Young

On the anniversary of the beginning of his Petrine ministry, on March 19^th, Pope Francis will open the work of the pre-synodal meeting that will bring together 300 young people from all over the world and of different religions for exchange until March 24, at the Maria Mater Ecclesiae College in Rome, on the themes of the assembly of the Synod of Bishops on “Young People, the Faith and Vocational Discernment” scheduled for October.

This, along with how to prepare for next month’s meeting, was discussed a few days ago in the Press Office of the Holy See during a conference attended by Cardinal Lorenzo Baldisseri, General Secretary of the Synod of Bishops, Msgr. Fabio Fabene, the Synod’s undersecretary, and two young people from Italy and Burundi.

“The Synod’s questionnaire—said Secretary Baldisseri—was filled out by approximately 221,000 respondents. Of these, 100,500 answered all the questions: 58,000 girls and 42,500 boys. Almost 51,000 of the respondents, for 50.6% of the completed questionnaires, are young people between 16 and 19, and this shows that the youngest are more sensitive to the initiative. The continent with the strongest representation is Europe, with 56.4%, followed by Central and Southern America with 19.8%, and Africa with 18.1%. Among the respondents who completed the Questionnaire, 73.9% say that they are Catholics who consider religion important, while the remaining are Catholics who do not consider religion important (8.8%), non-Catholics who consider religion important (6.1%), and non-Catholics who do not consider religion as important (11.1%).”

While waiting for March, young people between the ages of 16 and 29 can sign in on the “Synod2018" Facebook page and participate virtually with proposals and concrete ideas for the pre-Synodal meeting, which will produce a document to be delivered to the Pope. Starting on March 12^th, the questions that will guide the meeting’s discussion will be published, grouped in 15 hashtags, beginning with #ChiSonoIo and going through #diversità, #interiorità to #Gesù, from #chiamato to #protagonista.