Members of the Shalom Community participate in the Francesco Economy events, summoning Pope Francis to reflect on a new economic model; transfer of symbols from World Youth Day (WYD) from Panama to Lisbon, carried out by the Department for the laity, life and family and the Virtual Seminar “Latin America: Church, Pope Francis and the scenarios of the pandemic”, promoted by the Pontifical Commission for Latin America (CAL).
#takeupthecross
The Dicastery for the laity, family and life, through the youth section, prepared the delivery of the symbols of World Youth Day (WYD), the Cross and the Icon of Our Lady, to Lisbon, host city of the next WYD, during celebration held in the Vatican, this Sunday in Christ the King, the 22nd, transmitted over the internet.
The celebration is preceded by an international meeting with the aim of exchanging experiences on the realization of WYD. From the Shalom Community, five missionaries participate in this event: Father João Wilkes Chagas, head of the Youth Section of the Pontifical Council for the Laity, directly responsible for the realization of WYD, Bertrand Wadi, Youth Advisor of the institution, Vitor Aragão, representing the Centro Internacional San Lourenzo, Patrícia Morais, Local Head of Shalom Lisboa, future foundation of the Community and Tiago Barroso, International Assistant of the Shalom Community.
“This meeting served to take another step on the preparatory path for World Youth Day Lisbon 2023, taking into account two themes, continuity and synodality. Continuity as the path already lived by previous journeys, in order to build the next in an interconnected way as stages within a pastoral process. Synodality because it is the Church’s way of acting as the people of God, a theme too expensive to Pope Francis. Through synodality, the proposal is to build the next WYD based on listening and dialogue with all expressions of the Church that do some work with young people”, explains Patrícia Morais.
For the missionary, meetings like these held by the Dicastery for the laity, life and family perpetuate the experience of the synod of young people, a space that presented the Church’s desire to listen to the young, to speak with him and make him a protagonist in the Church’s action . “We also contemplate the desire to build a WYD that can provide answers to the dilemmas of the young people of this time that are called today, such as the pandemic and other themes presented in Cristo Vivit [final document of the Youth Synod]. Among these themes is looking for the best way to reach young people on the Digital Continent, for example. In fact, digital media are and will be increasingly present in the preparation and realization of the journey. So we reflected on how to make this new continent a space for meeting with God and with others, among other things”, exemplifies Patrícia.
The consecrated one shares about the joy of participating in an event like this, for the first time, on behalf of the Community. “Witnessing our experience in evangelizing young people and preparing for a journey, contributing with proposals, being enriched with the statements of the Church’s different expressions that work with young people has been a beautiful experience of synodality and fraternity. In fact, this event is already putting us in the spirit of WYD Lisbon 2023 ”, says Patrícia.
Another to participate in the event was the Youth from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Bertrand Wadi, in Mission in Brazil. “Participating in this meeting has been an incredible opportunity to experience the transition between WYD in Panama and WYD in Lisbon. It is being an occasion to, as Church and Community, reap the fruits of the journey, always maintaining the spirit of communion, synodality and dialogue. We have also listened to other communities and movements about their experiences with WYD and this is very enriching. I participate in the meeting of a working group in French and I have collaborated by sharing about how Shalom prepares for a World Youth Day. In view of this experience of communion, expectations are high and this event has warmed our hearts for WYD and awakened us to do a good job of preparation, in order to take a considerable number of young people to Lisbon ”, Witness the consecrated.
The organization of the event asks young people to use the hashtag #takeupthecross on social media (in a free translation, take your cross) and share your photos with the WYD symbols to express your memories that today can inspire the life of those around you around.
Latin America: Church, Pope Francis and Pandemic scenarios
On November 19 and 20, the Pontifical Commission for Latin America (CAL) with the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences and the Latin American Episcopal Council held the Virtual Seminar “Latin America: Church, Pope Francis and the Pandemic Scenarios”, with the participation of eight speakers, including Cardinal Marc Oullet, Mayor of CAL. An average of 250 leaders, including cardinals, politicians, university presidents and other authorities attended the webinar each day. Father Karlian Vale, consecrated of the Shalom Community, in Mission in Rome, participated in the event as a member of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America.
“My personal collaboration took place in the organization together with the team of the Commission for Latin America. During the two days I helped translate English and Spanish into Portuguese, for an average of 40 participants in our language ”, reports the priest. According to Father Karlian, a summary of everything that was proposed at the meeting is being made, since one of the objectives of the webinar is to present, based on reflections, perspectives for Latin America in the current situation. This material will be presented to the Holy Father later.
Francesco’s Economy
According to the description of the Vatican News portal, Francesco’s Economy is a world meeting for Francisco’s economy, in reference to the Poor Little Man of Assisi who, in the 13th century, left his fortune to embrace equality and nature. The Pope explains that Assisi is the appropriate place to inspire a new economy, since it was there that Francis stripped himself of all worldliness to choose God as the compass of his life, becoming the brother of all. His decision gave rise to an economic vision that remains current. Due to the Pandemic, the meeting cannot be held in Assisi, it received a digital version and the face-to-face meeting in the city of Poverello was rescheduled for November 2021 with the presence of the Holy Father.
Community missionary Shalom Elica Melo took part in the event that had three days of programming, more than 2 thousand registrants under 35 years old, from 115 nations around the world. The consecrated person attended the meeting in person, integrating a Hub (meeting point) formed by 11 people, most of them economists and businessmen, in Castel Gandolfo, Italian commune in the Lazio region, province of Rome.
“The point of unity of the participants is the desire to change the economic paradigm, in addition to being a response from young people to Pope Francis to think about how to give a new soul to the economy”, explains Elica. The consecrated account says that in the hubs the objective is to think about the economy at the local level.
Translation: Beatriz Duarte