3,000 young pilgrims will participate in the ecumenical prayer meeting for the Synod of Synodality, which will take place in the Eternal City in Rome with more than 80 parishes.
The first phase of the Synod was inaugurated in October 2021. At the end of the diocesan and continental stages, two sessions will be held in the Vatican: the first, from October 4 to 29, 2023, and the second in October 2024. The motto of the Assembly is: “For a synodal Church: communion, participation, and mission.”
The young people, between 18 and 35 years old, will participate over the weekend in the event titled “Together – Meeting of the People of God”, promoted by the Taizé Community and several dicasteries of the Vatican.
According to a note from the Diocese of Rome, pilgrims will arrive from Poland (470), France (400), Spain (280) and Hungary (220), as well as from Egypt, Vietnam, South Korea and the United States.
On Friday, 29 September, they will take part in various prayer vigils in the parishes, as well as in moments of fraternity. On Saturday the 30th, after a moment of prayer in the papal Basilica of Saint John Lateran, the Cathedral of Rome, the pilgrims will walk six kilometers to reach Saint Peter’s Square, where the event to which they have also been invited will take place. by Pope Francis, Orthodox Patriarch Bartholomew and the highest leader of Anglicans, Archbishop Justin Welby.
The parish priest of San Bonaventura da Bagnoregio, Fr. Stefano Cascio, comments on the case of his parish: “At the beginning we were ready to welcome the young participants in the parish premises, but it was not necessary to use them, because many families opened the doors of their homes. All this allows us to live the Synod in a more concrete way.”