Videos from the 4th Care for Creation Conference – Lisbon, 31 July 2023

Lifestyles for a new humanity
The recording of the entire conference, entitled “Youth Commitment to Integral Ecology. Lifestyles for a new humanity’.
Here instead is the moment of the handing over of the Manifesto drawn up by the young people during the conference itself to Pope Francis, on 3 August at the Universidade Catòlica Portuguesa

Read the Manifesto in Italian
Read the Manifesto in English
Read the Manifesto in Spanish
Read the Manifesto in Portuguese
Leggi il Manifesto in francese

Lifestyles for a new humanity: the 4th Care of Creation Conference at the WYD in Lisbon

More than 400 young delegates from youth ministry offices from different parts of the world and members of international associations and movements, who arrived in Lisbon to participate in WYD, gathered this morning at the Universidade Católica Portuguesa in Lisbon to take part in the IV International Conference on Care for Creation.
With the welcoming words of Dr. Gleison De Paula Souza, Secretary of the Dicastery for the Laity, Family and Life, co-organiser of the event promoted by the John Paul II Youth Foundation, the day of WYD dedicated to reflecting on five areas of human life opened: economy – education and family life – natural resources – politics – technology.
Like Mary: do not delay and move quickly for our Common Home
De Paula Souza wanted to give three images to the participants: that of the puzzle, that of the team and, finally, the icon of Mary.
“We are a piece of this beautiful puzzle, the work of God’s hands. He has placed beside us all the other creatures with whom we are deeply united and on whom our very existence depends,’ De Paula Souza said of the jigsaw image. The team image served to explain that ‘the battle for the protection of creation cannot be fought or won alone. You, network. Be a team. Support each other and you will climb obstacles, even the most unthinkable ones’. Finally, a fundamental icon for believers in Christ, Mary: “This allows me to relate to the theme of WYD: ‘Mary got up and went in haste’. It is a call to action so that what emerges from this conference does not remain a dead letter. But it is above all an invitation not to linger. In fact, even if people’s ecological awareness has grown, it is not enough to change harmful consumption habits, which do not seem to be receding, but rather extending and developing’.
Young people not resigned, but bearers of hope for the care of Creation
Together with the Secretary of the Dicastery, the President of the John Paul II Foundation for Youth, Mr. Daniele Bruno, also greeted everyone with an invitation: “If you are here, it is because you are well aware that each one of you is not only the future, but also and above all, is the present: it is in this present that each one of you lives, studies, works, has friends, parents, a boyfriend or girlfriend… and it is in all these environments of your daily life that you are called to have a lifestyle capable of bearing witness. You testify that you are not resigned and abandoned to a ‘mystique of maybe’ and that you want to live, yes, in the world, but taking care of the gift of our Lord entrusted to us all, Creation. And it is in all these areas that you transmit the hope that this is possible’.
The meeting continued with speeches by the Prefect of the Dicastery for Integral Human Development, Card. Michael Czerny, on the theological significance of integral ecology, at the service of the person, especially the weakest, and by Pablo Martinez de Anguita, Rey Juan Carlos University of Madrid, Spain, on the central theme of the risk a young person may run, namely that of losing the joy of life.
The Patriarch of Lisbon, Card. Manuel José Macário do Nascimento Clemente, greeted all those present, happy to open with this conference the events of WYD, which starts tomorrow, 1 August.

Let’s talk about style: that of the Convention organised by the John Paul II Youth Foundation on Care for Creation – the fourth after those linked to the WYDs of Rio de Janeiro (2013) Krakow (2016) and Panama (2019) was intended to be very concrete: not only to get young people into the heart of Laudato Si’, but for Francis’ thoughts to become a daily gesture for them, a habit of caring for everything and for each other.
For this reason, many experts from all over the world were invited, and the work was divided into five panels, which entered into the concrete life of our times: Lifestyles and economics: Changing lifestyles, production and consumption; Lifestyles and youth education: Family, friendship and society; Lifestyles and natural resources: Water, energy, agriculture: ‘Making the cry of the Earth and the cry of the poor be heard’; Lifestyles and politics: Facing the new conflicts with freedom and responsibility / operating on the basis of great principles and thinking about the long-term common good; and finally Lifestyles and technology: Technology as a creative way of caring for the common home.
The young people became very involved and enthusiastic about these topics: “The first step is to try to have a very deep relationship with God,” says Joanna, speaker of the second panel. “We created the obstacles, they are not bigger than us,” says Milagros, speaker of the third panel, with optimism and confidence.
“It is important to have a synodal vision of the climate crisis, our personal point of view is not enough,” reiterates the fourth panelist. And many, many more interesting insights.
The conclusions are entrusted to H.E. Mgr. Claudio Giuliodori, President of the Youth Commission of the Council of European Bishops’ Conferences. He began by recalling the 400th anniversary of the birth of the great thinker Blaise Pascal, who said: ‘Mankind is running towards the abyss and in order not to think about what it is doing, it puts on a nice little theatre in front of itself’. Today these theatrics are multiplied, here today we have tried to put the really important things back at the centre. Starting with the contemplation of creation: “First of all contemplate, have a gaze capable of grasping beauty, which frees us from the presumption of possessing and dominating. To grasp harmony and fragility. Creation is a complex reality, which asks us many questions, in continuous transformation’. We cannot change the past, but the present and the future are in the hands of our freedom and choices. “We talked about lifestyles,” continued – As believers we have a formidable stylist, God the Father; a model who is Jesus Christ; an exceptional tailor, who sews each person’s life to his or her measure, who is the Holy Spirit. We must take our way of life from them’. With the logic of the Gospel we can begin to change our way of life. He then recalled three stages through which to begin this change: the present, with the WYD we are currently experiencing in Lisbon; the Synod, which will have Care for Creation as one of its main themes; the Jubilee of 2025, which reminds us that every now and then we need to stop and give an account to God: a time of grace to start again, improved.

The final greetings and thanks were given by the hostess, Prof. Isabel Capeloa Gil, Rector of the Universidade Católica Portuguesa; “This week of grace for Lisbon and for the Church could not have started in a better way. We are honoured by the choice of our city for the WYD and of our University for this beautiful meeting.

Here is the complete album of images: https://www.flickr.com/photos/laityfamilylife/albums/72177720310165032

An appeal to renew our personal ecological conversion was written by the participants of the conference and delivered by one of them to Pope Francis on 3 August, during the meeting with young university students at the Universidade Católica Portuguesa.

Read the Manifesto in Italian
Read the Manifesto in English
Read the Manifesto in Spanish
Read the Manifesto in Portuguese
Read the Manifesto in French

Sustainability and Care for Creation in the WYD Minute

The “WYD minute” is an effective tool to talk to young people about WYD. It is a short video, just over a minute, which, episode after episode, anticipates what the next WYD will be like and what the Portuguese Committee has organised. In the 14th episode we talk about Care for Creation and the Conferences that the foundation has organised since 2013, WYD Rio de Janeiro. A must-see!

WYD Minute – Ep. 14 – 22/06/2023

Final preparations for the 4th Conference on Care for Creation

Preparations for the 4th International Conference on Care for Creation have now entered their final phase. The President of the John Paul II Foundation, Daniele Bruno, was with the Local Organising Committee of WYD Lisbon2023 today, 30 June, to present the Conference that will be held on 31 July at the Catholic University of Portugal in Lisbon.
In an informal moment, the president explained to some COL volunteers that the main objective is for “young people to reflect on their lifestyle and understand how they can change it to take care of the Common Home”.

The president of the John Paul II Youth Foundation recently visited the headquarters of the Local Organising Committee (Col) of World Youth Day (WYD) Lisbon 2023. The purpose of the visit was the preparation of the Fourth International Conference on the Care of Creation, which the Foundation is organising in collaboration with the WYD. The conference will take place at the Catholic University of Portugal, in Lisbon, on 31 July, the day before the start of WYD.

The conference will be a moment of dialogue on the care of our Common Home, with a reflection on the Encyclical ‘Laudato Si’ by Pope Francis”. At the same time, “it will be an opportunity to reflect on the lifestyles currently adopted and to seek new ones that are able to meet the cultural, spiritual and educational challenges of the present and future generations, inspiring concrete and lasting actions in favour of environmental protection”.

The Care for Creation Conference on the WYD agenda

An important press conference was held in Lisbon on 6 June by the Patriarch of Lisbon, H.Em. the Card. Manuel Clemente and the President of the WYD 2023 Foundation, Msgr. Américo Aguiar.
The theme was the World Youth Day agenda and the various initiatives that officially form part of the event.
In this context, Msgr. Aguiar spoke about the conference that our Foundation is organising at the Catholic University of Portugal, which will take place on 31 July, and defined the theme of Care for Creation as one that is very dear to the Holy Father and to all the young people of the world.

(view the video)

Walking to Lisbon

Yesterday at ‘Gregorian Tuesdays the meeting between H.Em. the Card. Gambetti and the President of the John Paul II Youth Foundation

Rome, 19 April 2023 – Yesterday afternoon, at the Gregorian University, the second meeting of the event “Walking towards Lisbon – 10 years of Francis. In attendance were H.Em. the Card. Mauro Gambetti, Vicar General of His Holiness for Vatican City, and Mr. Daniele Bruno, our President, who gave an interview to Vatican News earlier today, of which you can also listen to the audio. The film of the entire meeting will be available soon on the Gregorian University YouTube channel.

Lifestyles supporting a renewed humanity

On the eve of WYD Lisbon 2023, the 4th International Conference on the Care of Creation will take place on 31 July at the Catholic University of PortugalUniversidade Católica Portuguesa.

Many things have to change course, but it is we human beings above all who need to change. We lack awareness of our common origin, of our mutual belonging, and of a future to be shared with everyone. his basic awareness would enable the development of new convictions, attitudes and forms of life. A great cultural, spiritual and educational challenge stands before us, and it will demand that we set out on the long path of renewal” (Laudato si’, 202).
Go to the full press release

Walking to Lisbon – 10 years of Francis

The John Paul II Youth Foundation participates in the ‘Tuesdays at the Gregorian’ meetings

On the tenth anniversary of the election of Pope Francis, in preparation for the XXXVII World Youth Day, to be held in Lisbon from 1 to 6 August 2023, the Hurtado Centre, in collaboration with the Embassy of Portugal to the Holy See, is organising three meetings that frame the perspectives opened up by the magisterium of this pontificate, declined as proposals addressed to the new Christian generations. In attendance will be H.Em. the Card. José Tolentino de Mendonça in dialogue with José Mourinho (31 March); H.Em. the Card. Mauro Gambetti in dialogue with Mr. Daniele Bruno, President of the John Paul II Youth Foundation (18 April) and H.Em. the Card. Gianfranco Ravasi in dialogue with Prof. Jorge Vaz de Carvalho (9 May).
The meetings are aimed at young laymen and women who want to complement their human and professional training with the intelligence of the Christian faith to prepare themselves for the challenges they face in our societies.
All three appointments will take place at 5.30 p.m. in the Aula Magna of the Gregorian University in Rome. They are free and open to all, subject to registration at www.unigre.it. It will also be possible to follow the matches live streaming on the youtube.com/UniGregoriana channel.

Seeking a more just way

Our President guest speaker at the XXVIII National Conference of the Catholic Student Movement – FIDAE

The Movimento Studenti Cattolici – Fidae was founded in 1978 and is a student association representing students of Catholic public secondary schools with the aim of contributing to the improvement of the school as a whole, understood as a public service, through dialogue with the competent institutions.

The annual national conference is an important cultural moment for the association, where students can discuss important topics with distinguished speakers.

From 9 to 12 February, the XXVIII National Conference was held in Rome, entitled: ‘Unbalanced World. Seeking a more just way’.

Our President, Daniele Bruno, was one of the speakers on the opening day and presented to the young people the activities of the Foundation, the initiatives for the upcoming World Youth Day in Lisbon and the Convention on the Care of Creation to be held in Lisbon on 31 July.