A pre-synodal gathering to hear from youth

As the Holy Father announced during his General Audience this morning, from 19 to 24 March 2018, there will be a pre-Synodal meeting held in Rome including the participation of young people from various parts of the world, in preparation for the XV Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops which will have as its theme: Youth, faith and vocational discernment.  It is expected that this Assembly of the Synod of Bishops will take place in October 2018.  The March meeting is being organized by the General Secretariat of the Synod of Bishops, in collaboration with the Dicastery for the Laity, Family and Life.

We thank the Holy Father for this initiative that allows young people to express their hopes and desires, as well as their incertitudes and their preoccupations in the complex vicissitudes of the modern-day world.  This initiative is part of the Synodal tradition, since pre-Synodal meetings have been organized in the past, such as in preparation for the VII Ordinary General Assembly in 1987, on the vocation and the mission of the laity in the Church and in the world, and the Symposium in preparation for the Special Assembly for Europe held in 1991.

Those who will be invited to attend this pre-Synodal Meeting include youth representatives from various Episcopal Conferences, Oriental Churches, others from Consecrated Life and those who are preparing for priesthood, from various ecclesial Associations and Movements, from other Churches and Christian communities as well as other Religions, from various schools, universities and from the worlds of culture, work, sports, arts, volunteers and youth who find themselves on the extreme peripheries, as well as experts, teachers and formators committed to working with youth in order to discern their various life choices.

The pre-Synodal Meeting will contribute to enriching the consultative phase which has already begun with the publication of the Preparatory Document and the related Questionnaire, with the opening of the online consultation including a youth-specific questionnaire and the International Seminar on the condition of youth, held last month (September).  The result of the work that has taken place at these Meetings will be shared with the Synod Fathers together with other documents, in order to enlighten and guide their reflection.

The planned date for the pre-Synodal Meeting has been chosen to coincide with all the participants who are going to participate in the celebration of the Eucharist on Palm Sunday with the Holy Father in Saint Peter's Square on the occasion of the XXXIII World Youth Day 2018 which will focus on the theme: Fear not Mary, for you have found favour with God (Lk 1:30).

We entrust to the intercession of Our Lady, and to the prayer of all the faithful, the happy outcome of this initiative.

Lorenzo Cardinal Baldisseri
General Secretary of the Synod of Bishops