Ahead of this year’s synod of bishops on ‘Young People, the Faith and Vocational Discernment’, which will take place in Rome in October, Pope Francis has invited young people across the world to offer their contributions through social media.
More than 300 young people from all over the world and of different faiths will gather at the Maria Mater Ecclesiae College in Rome from 19 to 24 March to present the results of the initiative to Pope Francis and offer their thoughts and ideas ahead of the synod.
Speaking recently on the results of the Synod Questionnaire, Cardinal Baldisseri, General Secretary of the Synod of Bishops, said, ‘The Synod’s questionnaire—said Secretary Baldisseri—was filled out by approximately 221,000 respondents. Of these, 100,500 answered all the questions: 58,000 girls and 42,500 boys.
‘Almost 51,000 of the respondents, for 50.6% of the completed questionnaires, are young people between 16 and 19, and this shows that the youngest are more sensitive to the initiative.
‘The continent with the strongest representation is Europe, with 56.4%, followed by Central and Southern America with 19.8%, and Africa with 18.1%. Among the respondents who completed the Questionnaire, 73.9% say that they are Catholics who consider religion important, while the remaining are Catholics who do not consider religion important (8.8%), non-Catholics who consider religion important (6.1%), and non-Catholics who do not consider religion as important (11.1%).’
Young people aged between 16 and 29 are invited to join the conversation by joining the ‘Synod2018’ Facebook group and by using #Synod2018 on Twitter and Instagram.
For more information on the upcoming synod on ‘Young People, the Faith and Vocational Discernment’, please see www.Synod2018.va.
