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”.
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.
Yesterday at ‘Gregorian Tuesdaysthe 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.
On the eve of WYD Lisbon2023, the 4thInternationalConferenceon the CareofCreation will take place on 31 July at the Catholic University of Portugal – Universidade 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
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.
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.
“For promoting peace, union and fraternity among the peoples and nations of the world, starting from the protagonism of young people, with an invitation to young people to build a more just and united world”. It was also emphasised that this World Youth Day provides “an experience of the universal Church, fostering an encounter with Jesus Christ and constituting for young people a birthplace of vocations to marriage and consecrated life”.
These are the motivations for the prize awarded on 23 January in Madrid by the Fundación Universitaria San Pablo, of the Universidad Cardenal Herrera, which has recognised the social, educational and research work of individuals or groups belonging to the different CEU centres every year since 1997.
About to celebrate its 40th anniversary, World Youth Day received this award for ‘Spreading Catholic Culture’. The president of the John Paul II Youth Foundation, Daniele Bruno, accepting the award expressed his gratitude for ‘the recognition of the importance of this meeting of young people in transmitting the Gospel and, at the same time, values such as dialogue and peace’ and also thanked ‘on behalf of His Eminence Card. Kevin Farrell, Prefect of the Dicastery for the Laity, Family and Life, the President of the Asociación Católica de Propagandistas and the Fundación Universitaria San Pablo CEUProf. Alfonso Bullón de Mendoza y Gómez de Valugera, for the prestigious award”, recalling that the prize is to be shared with all those who are working with enthusiasm and dedication for the realisation of the next WYD in Lisbon in August: “the Local Organising Committee, chaired by His Excellency Mons. Américo Aguiar, and the Youth Area of the Dicastery for the Laity, Family and Life, directed by Fr. Joao Chagas, as well as the John Paul II Vatican Foundation for Youth, which I have the honour to preside over and which works in support of the Youth Area of the Dicastery”.
Some Board members and Auditors with Dr Linda Ghisoni, Undersecretary of the Dicastery for the Laity, Family and Life
After a long and careful work, which produced an updated text in line with the latest state regulations, and after the Decree of approval of the Prefect of the Dicastery, H.Em. the Card. Kevin Farrel, the Foundation’s new Statute was entered in the Vatican City State registers, thus concluding its process In the documents section you can find an extract, together with the Decree of Approval.
From 16 to 19 October, all the teams of the Local Organising Committee (COL) of WYD Lisbon 2023, led by Dom Américo Aguiar, President of the WYD Lisbon 2023 Foundation, the heads of youth ministry of the Bishops’ Conferences from all over the world, as well as ecclesial movements and religious congregations, met in Fatima (Portugal) to prepare WYD Lisbon 2023, which will take place in Portugal from 1 to 6 August 2023. Cardinal Kevin Farrell, Prefect of the Dicastery for the Laity, Family and Life, was present, as was Archbishop Manuel Clemente, Cardinal Patriarch of Lisbon.
The meeting, promoted by the local organising committee and the Dicastery for the Laity, Family and Life, was attended by some 280 people from 180 countries. The aim was to take stock of pastoral, liturgical and logistical work and to prepare together for the next World Youth Day.
The Foundation was also present and participated in the work with its President, Daniele Bruno, and Vice-President, presenting to the Assembly the work done by the Foundation, the Conferences on Care for Creation and this website. The representatives of the Foundation also had a meeting in Lisbon with the Rector of the Catholic University of Portugal (and President of the International Federation of Catholic Universities), Professor Isabel Capeloa Gil, who expressed the University’s willingness to host the next Conference on Care for Creation on 31 July 2023, as part of the XXXVIII World Youth Day.
On the last day of the meeting, participants also had the opportunity to take a tour of Lisbon and visit the Tejo Park, where the central events of WYD will take place.
New logo and website unveiled to strengthen service to international youth ministry
Thirty years after its establishment in our Dicastery, the John Paul II Foundation for Youth celebrated its anniversary, during a meeting in the Vatican, by presenting its activities and new projects for young people around the world.
To talk about the history, activity and mission of the Foundation, at the opening of the event presented by host Lorena Bianchetti, was Linda Ghisoni, undersecretary for the lay faithful of the Dicastery, explaining that in recent years “the mission of the foundation has not changed: to promote the evangelization of young people and support youth ministry in all its areas”. Supporting the Foundation, he reiterated, ‘means investing in young people, who are a source of hope even in these war-torn days’. Undersecretary Ghisoni recalled what John Paul II replied to those who called him “inventor” of the World Youth Day (WYD): “No, it was the young people themselves who created them, and they have become a great testimony that young people give of their commitment, and a powerful means of evangelization. In them there is a great potential for good and a lot of creativity.”
According to the head of the Dicastery’s Youth Office, Father João Chagas, “World Youth Day produces a network of generative friendships (and), beautiful and fruitful initiatives. This, together with volunteering, is the most beautiful legacy of WYD, and the John Paul II Youth Foundation is its guardian.”
Pamela Fabiano, a member of the Foundation, and official of the Dicastery, presented the logo and the website of the Foundation, www.fondazionegiovani.va, with the section dedicated to collecting the stories of all the World Youth Days, from its first celebration in Buenos Aires 1978, to recent celebrations, in Italian, English, and Spanish, and soon, also in French and Portuguese. “An archive like this was missing,” she underlined, “and it is also a way to connect those who have met on World Youth Days”.
President Daniele Bruno underlined the importance of the conferences on the Care of Creation, the next of which will be held in Lisbon on the 31st of July 2023, at the Catholic University of Portugal. These conferences, which began in Rio de Janeiro in 2013, today follow in the footsteps implemented by the Holy Father Francis with the Encyclical Laudato si’.
Final preparations for the 4th Conference on Care for Creation
