Mediterranean Youth Council at Palazzo Vecchio
YOUTH COUNCIL OF THE MEDITERRANEAN
Sept. 2 meeting at Palazzo Vecchio with mayor, city council president,
the Bishop of Beirut Mgr. Essayan, then with Archbishop Mgr. Gambelli
Work has begun for the 34 young people from 20 countries of the "Mare Nostrum" in Fiesole for the plenary session of the Mediterranean Youth Council until Sept. 7, a week of meetings and moments of dialogue and confrontation that brings together delegates designated by the Bishops' Conferences and Patriarchates.
Tomorrow, Tuesday, September 2, the young people will be in the Salone dei Duecento of Palazzo Vecchio in Florence from 4 to 6 p.m. They will meet with Mayor Sara Funaro and City Council President Cosimo Guccione, along with Prof. Patrizia Giunti, president of the Mare Nostrum Network.
Three delegates from Lebanon, Spain and Malta will speak on peace, Mediterranean fraternity and the environment. The conclusions are entrusted to Msgr. Cesar Essayan, Apostolic Vicar of the Beirut Latin Vicariate.
Then from 7 p.m. the Council youth will meet with the Archbishop of Florence Msgr. Gherardo Gambelli at the "Giorgio La Pira" International Student Center.
It was at the Palazzo Vecchio on February 26, 2022 that the Charter of Florence at the end of a historic meeting that brought together Catholic bishops and mayors of Mediterranean cities. In the wake of the vision of Giorgio La Pira - the "holy mayor" who as early as the 1950s envisioned the Tuscan capital as a bridge of peace and a laboratory for dialogue between the shores of the Mare Nostrum - the Florence Charter is a call for fraternity and peace, written in days when the world was watching with dismay the outbreak of war in Ukraine. It places the person at the center, recalling the universal values of dignity and respect for fundamental rights, including health, to be protected by more robust systems. It recalls the need for migration policies that respect human rights and development strategies in countries of origin, as well as decent work especially for youth and women as a tool against inequality and social tensions. Special attention is given to intercultural and interreligious dialogue, and education is at the heart of this process, urging joint university programs and educational pathways capable of guiding young people toward goodness, justice and freedom. The signatories urged that the challenge of climate change also be addressed now to preserve the quality of life for future generations.
The Mediterranean Youth Council is the fruit of that charter: born in 2023 as a sign work of the Mediterranean Bishops' Convention, it is promoted by the Italian Church and coordinated by the "Mare Nostrum" Network, composed of the Giorgio La Pira Foundation, by the John Paul II Foundation, theOpera per la Gioventù Giorgio La Pira ODV and the Giorgio La Pira International Student Center.; to them the Italian Bishops' Conference entrusted the implementation of the project.
After tomorrow's meeting, the work of the Plenary will continue in Fiesole, and then move to Rome on the evening of September 4: after a moment of prayer with Msgr. Stefano Manetti, Bishop of Fiesole - they will meet with the Secretary General of the CEI Msgr. Giuseppe Baturi, Undersecretary Fr. Gianluca Marchetti and the head of the Youth Pastoral Service Fr. Riccardo Pinicerato.
On Sept. 5, the Mediterranean Youth will be at the Vatican for anaudience with Pope Leo XIV and the Jubilee Pilgrimage.