The charge of the children - at least one hundred thousand are expected according to initial estimates - the gathering at the Circus Maximus and then the meeting at St. Peter's with Pope Francis who, in the role of a kind of grandfather, will welcome everyone by talking to them about Jesus and his life narrated in the Gospels. The central aim of the first World Children's Day, which will be held on 25 and 26 May in Rome, is the transmission of faith, a thread that seems to have broken or at least deteriorated and on which the Church wants to invest in particular.
Muslim boys from war zones will also arrive in Rome, from Palestine to Ukraine, from Afghanistan to Syria. 'The Gmb will be celebrated at a dual level - explained Cardinal José Tolentino de Mendonca, Prefect of the Dicastery for Culture and Education-, the universal one will be celebrated in Rome, and the diocesan one organized by the local Churches. Muslims are present because we have good relations with everyone and it will be a way to ask for peace in the world'. Registrations open today. Two main events: the vigil and the Sunday mass and Pope Francis will participate in both. Those will be rather crucial days for the city of Rome, since the last stage of the Giro d'Italia is scheduled (for Sunday). However, the congestion does not seem to scare anyone and Father Enzo Fortunato, one of the organizers, reassures that the children will be the first to cheer for the cyclists. 'I cannot but thank Pope Francis for having instituted this gathering - said Father Enzo -, I will put all my enthusiasm and my ability to dream. And who more than children can teach us to do it? And what bigger dream than peace? Let's start from them, from their simplicity and desire for the future. And from the words of the Lord taken from the Apocalypse, which the Holy Father has chosen as the theme and motto for the first edition of the day: 'Behold, I make all things new'.
Marco Impagliazzo of Sant'Egidio emphasizes that we need to listen to children because their voice must also be heard in the world of politics and international institutions. No to war. 'Our Communities in Europe, Africa, Latin America and Asia, with their Schools of Peace, are preparing for this Day, so that it is the right opportunity to put children back at the center of the world's attention, who are the present and the future of humanity'. Among the organizers of the event, also the cooperative Auxilium and a dense network of collaborations, from Trenitalia to the Figc.
Ukrainian war, the (new) US plan for Kiev: peace without reconquest of occupied territories
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