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.
Challenges and opportunities to respond to the sustainability crisis
