Pope Francis smiles during a meeting with youth at the Santuario della Madonna della Guardia (Virgin Mary of the Guardia Sanctuary) as part of a one-day visit in Genoa, on May 27. (Photo by Marco Bertorello/AFP)
Pope Francis will convene the Synod of Bishops again in October 2018 and he’s asked the delegates to discuss “Young people, the faith, and vocational discernment”.
While the three-week meeting is, by constitution, a gathering of the Church’s chief pastors, the pope believes strongly that the world’s youth must have a major say in their deliberations.
That’s why he took the unprecedented step to have the Synod’s secretariat set up a special website where the kids can offer their views through an online questionnaire. The youngsters will also be able to follow the preparations for next year’s Synod assembly and the actual discussions that take place there.
But they have not responded to the extent that Francis and his collaborators had initially hoped. Only about 65,000 of those between the ages of 16 and 29 (the age group the Vatican has identified as “youth”) have answered the survey up until now.
That’s not very encouraging.
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