The 6th round of the “Mediterranean Youth Agora”, scheduled in Loreto next September 2nd to 9th, will be dedicated to the evangelical blessedness of heart purity. This year, the Agora, an appointment expected by the young from the countries in the Mediterranean basin, will start with the meeting of Pope Benedict XVI with Italian youth, in Montorso. It will be a “really great opportunity to widen our horizons and to provide links, avoiding the trap of self-centrism, and acknowledging to be part of a much bigger and more numerous people”, said Father Francesco Pierpaoli, director of the Centre “John Paulo II” in Loreto, to SIR. This Centre has been hosting the initiative, promoted by the CEI National Service for youth pastoral, and by the CEI National Office for missionary cooperation among Churches, since 2001. The participants will be 50, representing the young from 25 countries. There will also be about thirty Italians and sixteen Australians, who will invite the people of the same age to the next WYD. “Every year, we are inspired by evangelical blessedness. This year, it will be the sixth: Bless the pure-hearted”, pointed out Father Pierpaoli. “Heart purity – he went on – is to be understood as inner freedom, and we would like the young would use it in all the aspects of social, political and religious life”, giving account of it “in all the squares our Europe has built, where nevertheless Christians are not present”. After the meeting with the Pope, the visit to the Christian Rome is scheduled, to ponder over “heart purity materializing into the gift of one’s self and into martyrdom”. The visit to Assisi is also scheduled, the land of St. Francis, “who was able to provide links in the Mediterranean”. Back to Loreto on Thursday 6th, the Agora “will get to the heart of the matter through a daily biblical development by promoting countries: France, Spain and Italy”. In particular, underlined Father Pierpaoli, “on Friday, we would like to depict heart purity as reconciliation and purification of memory”, by starting from the ethical clash in Rwanda, in 1995, “to commence a reflection on the problematic entities close to us, such as the Balkans or the Middle East”. Among the guests of the day, there will be a few white helmets of Caritas operating in Macedonia and Kosovo, and Rwandan Efrem Musundi.
