“Sentinel, how much is left of the night?”
The sentinel replies,
“Comes the morning, then also the night;
if you want to ask, ask,
convert, come!”
(Isa 21:11-12)
Pope Francis’ meeting with the thousand young people gathered in Assisi, from September 22-24, 2022, began with these words from the prophet Isaiah.[1] They arrived from every corner of the world: from Aotearoa New Zealand to Patagonia, from Thailand to Mozambique and Mexico. Thanks to the coordination of the Focolare Movement, these young people – including students, entrepreneurs, activists and game-changers – were housed in 12 villages, set up between the historic center of Assisi and the Basilica of Santa Maria degli Angeli.
The Assisi meeting was a response to the call launched on May 1, 2019, in Pope Francis’ Letter for the Economy of Francesco Event, addressed “to young economists, entrepreneurs and businesspeople around the world.” It had been postponed because of the pandemic, and there was, in this meeting in the “land of Saint Francis,” a joy that sounded like a challenge to the collective depression induced by the confinements and catastrophic management of Covid-19,[2] the war in Ukraine[3] and the natural disasters caused everywhere on Earth by the manifold ecological crisis.[4] This article is reserved for paid subscribers. Please subscribe to continue reading this article
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