The Pope meets "La Cattedra dell'Accoglienza": «Educating to presence and care»

 (@Vatican Media)  

On the morning of March 12, in the Vatican, Pope Leo XIV met with participants in the fourth edition of the "Cattedra dell'Accoglienza" a cultural and educational initiative promoted by Fraterna Domus together with other ecclesial and social organizations, in collaboration with the Pontifical Lateran University. This year's edition is dedicated to the theme "Young People and the Church: Forms of Welcome that Generate Belonging."

In his address, the Pope pointed to two key words for understanding the Christian meaning of welcome: presence and care. These are inseparable dimensions, he explained, because "one cannot care without being present, and one cannot be present without taking responsibility for the other."

Thanking the participants for their "quiet and discreet" commitment, the Pope encouraged them to be "educators of welcome," cultivating this charism through listening to the Holy Spirit and helping to create environments capable of fostering goodness and fraternity within the Christian community and in society.

Particular attention was given to young people who—even in a time marked by profound cultural and social transformations—represent not only the future but the living and generative present of the Church and of society. Welcoming them, Leo XIV emphasized, means first of all listening to their questions and recognizing that the Spirit continues to work in their lives, suggesting new paths of presence and care.

Recalling the Gospel figures of Mary and Joseph and, in particular, the example of Saint Joseph as a guardian, the Pope finally invited everyone to care for relationships, for creation, and for the most vulnerable, so that the Christian community may increasingly become a place of encounter, responsibility, and fraternity.