Over a thousand students will gather over the weekend in the Italian cities of Padua and Venice to promote peace, solidarity and integration. The president of the Italian Bishops' Conference (CEI), Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, is scheduled to attend.
Students from 13 countries associated with the international Youths for Peace movement linked to the local Community of Sant'Egidio will gather in Padua and Venice this weekend (August 25-27).
Founded in 1968, Sant'Egidio is a lay Catholic association dedicated to social service. It works to aid marginalized children, seniors, refugees and the homeless in Italy.
70 Ukrainian youths to attend
70 students from Ukraine, where Sant'Egidio is continuing to support the population by distributing food and medicine and opening educational centers for children and teens, will attend.
They will travel to the Veneto region from Kyiv, Lviv and Ivano-Frankivsk. Together with their peers from other European countries, they will voice their generation's hopes for peace and will discuss several issues -- the environment, migration, poverty -- to promote a culture of solidarity and integration.
Cardinal Matteo Zuppi
The inaugural day on Friday will open with a press conference by Mario Giro, a former deputy foreign minister, dedicated to the theme "Global Youth: Understanding our Complex World" and will wrap up with a prayer for peace chaired by Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, president of the Italian Bishops' Conference (CEI) and a special envoy of Pope Francis for Ukraine.
On Saturday morning, participants will attend an assembly with Marco Impagliazzo, president of the Community of Sant'Egidio, called "Everything Can Change". The meeting will end in Venice with a flash mob for peace in San Marco square.
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