On December 2, 3 and 4 at the Chapel of the oldest university in Europe, La Sapienza, young people from various regions of Italy will be gathered for a meeting of peace, the first Shalom Youth Congress held in Italy. The Shalom Youth Congress has already been held in Brazil and Latin America for years since 1989. The first edition happened in Brazil with only a few hundred of young people. The last edition was held in the Brazilian capital, Brasilia, and gathered more than 4,000 young people from Brazil and Latin America.
The first European edition was in Paris in 2015, only a week after the terrorist attacks that frightened the whole world but failed to discourage the young people attended in the Youth Congress from Europe, Asia, Africa and the Middle East.
The Shalom Youth Congress is a three-day long event, which aims to bring young people to grow in a personal experience with God, according to the Church’s call to become new disciples and missionaries of Jesus Christ, giving authentic testimonies of hope and joy. For this, the CGS has a varied programming, marked by moments of prayer, Eucharistic celebrations, performances, art and sharing.
The educational aspect will be enriched in particular by the interventions of the Founder and General Moderator of the Shalom Catholic Community , Moyses Azevedo, the priest Father. João Chagas (in charge of the youth section of the Dicastery for the laity, family and life at the Vatican), the Professor of Medicine Professor physical and Rehabilitation at the University of Rome Sapienza, Valter Santilli and other young members of the Shalom Community.
This meeting of peace is actually a rebellion. Young people who gather at the Shalom Youth Congress want to respond to the violence in the world with the audacity of the hope. They do not want to escape or hide. They do not want to respond with more threats and prejudices. They want to manifest to the world especially to the Italian people the peace that comes from trusting in the living God. The intention of the Congress is to offer to the youth an authentic and profound experience with God through moments of prayer, formation, sharing and leisure. Shalom Youth Congress wants to show to the participants that God, when present in our daily lives, in our actions and thoughts, He enriches us with his Wisdom, He pacifies us with His peace, He transforms us with His love.
The theme is provocative: Duc in altum (Put Out Into the Deep). The theme wants to provoke movement, an exit movement out of the fears to discover what there is beyond our borders, deeper than our feet could ever wander.
La Sapienza university will hear a melody of peace in the vibrant voice of the young people singing in Reale band and Shalom band concert, their voices will sing together to express the joy of hope, the joy of having God as security. They go over together because the road to peace is not done alone. Duc in Altum!