(ZENIT News / Tirana, 09.17.2024).- Pope Francis invited the young people of the Mediterranean to “be tireless pilgrims of hope and to follow the signs of God, so that the Mediterranean area may recover his best feature: the expression of fraternity and peace, and it could be no longer a graveyard.”
He did so by sending a video message to the fifty young people participating in MED 24 Tirana, a new edition of the Mediterranean Encounters —organized by the Catholic Church with the collaboration of Mediterranean actors, such as Mar Yam— that aims to address the challenges and opportunities present in the Mediterranean region. These meetings focus on themes such as peace, interreligious and cultural dialogue, human dignity, and migration.
Under the motto “Pilgrims of hope, builders of peace,” suggested by the Archdiocese of Tirana-Durazzo, in continuity with the Jubilee motto, MED 24 Tirana follows the Pope’s call to build bridges of dialogue between the different religions and cultures of the Mediterranean.
The future of the Mediterranean region
The MED 24 Tirana meeting, which began last Sunday and will last until Saturday, September 21, received a message from Pope Francis in which he recalled his visit to Albania ten years ago: “As I said on that occasion to the young people: ‘You are the new generation of Albania’, now I want to add, for you, dear young people who come from the five shores of the Mediterranean Sea, ‘you, the new generation, are the future of the Mediterranean region.”
“Peace needs to be built! God loves every man; He makes no differences among us. The fraternity between the five shores of the Mediterranean that you are establishing it is the answer – really it’s an answer! –, the best answer we can offer to the conflicts and the deadly indifferences,” Francis emphasized in his video message.
A gate of peace in Tirana
At the opening of the meeting held on Monday morning, the Bishop of Tirana, Msgr. Arjan Dodaj, F.d.C., welcomed the 50 young people participating in MED 24 Tirana and told them: “Dear young people, our wish is that you may experience Albania as a place of that laboratory of peace that emerges as a peculiarity of its interreligious experience”.
Monsignor Dodaj emphasized how Tirana has been a facilitator of an enriching exchange between cultures: “Always, in its history, our land has been a place of intersection and passage, and what does it mean to be a ‘door’ if not that one passes, on one side, and the other always finds a welcome? The routes are different, but the door unites them all without homologating them”. And he added: “The same happens with the Mediterranean Sea, the ‘Mare Nostrum’. Because of the history that characterizes it, because of the diversity of its realities, its cultures and even its trials, it constitutes a mosaic to which today we would like to give the shape of a door. And so, once again, this door, these days, passes through Tirana”.
Young people, builders of peace
Young people in the Mediterranean face several challenges that threaten their future: destabilization and humanitarian crises generated by conflicts and wars in the area, financial and employment instability, and a lack of educational and professional development opportunities.
MED24 Tirana, inspired by the previous Mediterranean Meetings, aims to create a spirit of fraternity. The event follows Pope Francis’ call to build bridges of dialogue between the different religions and cultures of the Mediterranean, transforming the region into a symbol of peace, hope and universal fraternity.
For one week, 50 young people from diverse cultures, faiths and realities from the five shores of the Mediterranean will meet with an agenda based on dialogue, cultural visits, moments of prayer and meditation, as well as working on crucial issues such as peace, migration and human dignity.
Thursday will be a special day dedicated to fostering meaningful exchanges with workshops designed to promote dialogue between the bishops and the young participants. The day will focus on three main themes: education, communication, and integral development in peacebuilding.
Ten years after Pope Francis’ visit to Albania, which became a historic milestone for the country, Tirana is once again hosting a significant event featuring young people from all over the Mediterranean. The meeting is a call to action for young people from diverse cultures to come together to build a more just and supportive future for the Mediterranean.
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