Beginning on July 19, 2024, the second phase of Genfest 2024, the event and the youth of the Focolare Movement, concluded its program on July 21, 2024 with the celebration of the Holy Mass in the Basilica of the National Shrine of Aparecida, in Aparecida (São Paulo), Brazil. The central event of Genfest, which for the first time had its international version on the Latin American continent, brought together about 4,000 participants from more than 50 countries and, from the beginning, was marked by contagious joy. In addition, thousands of people around the world followed part of the program via streaming.

With the theme “Together to Care,” the young people gathered at the “Father Vítor Coelho de Almeida Event Center” promoted an intense program that combined celebration, art, creativity and testimony, an expression of the conviction that building universal fraternity requires concrete initiatives to take care of life on the planet, especially in terms of caring for people in different conditions of vulnerability and nature, as Pope Francis insistently requested.

Opening Ceremony

At the inauguration, the young people were welcomed by the Archbishop of Aparecida, Msgr. Orlando Brandes; the apostolic nuncio to Brazil, Msgr. Giambattista Diquattro; the rector of the Aparecida Shrine, Father Eduardo Catalfo; and the president of the Focolare Movement, Margaret Karram, among the dignitaries present. Bishop Orlando Brandes read a message sent by Cardinal Piero Parolin, Vatican Secretary of State, on behalf of Pope Francis. “We know how to react with a new dream of fraternity and social friendship that is not limited to words,” was the message read. In her words of greeting to the youth, Margaret Karram emphasized that “together, our dreams will come true.” Afterwards, the youth were treated to a “Latin American party” with artistic performances typical of different countries. It was an explosion of joy that involved everyone.

Day 2

A time to find directions, or more precisely, paths, for a united world. This is how the second day of the second phase of Genfest 2024 began. On the one hand, young people from around the world told how they tried to build fraternal relationships in their environments. This was the case, for example, of Adelina, from Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, who had to deal with the tragedy caused by the rains that hit her city in May 2024, and Joseph, from Sierra Leone, who was separated from his family as a child and recruited by militiamen fighting the African country’s government troops with acts of violence. Artistic moments drew attention to some major issues in the world today, such as ecology and citizenship, while so-called spark changers, specialists in different areas, offered the audience some brief reflections that could bring about change in the world.

Saturday’s program also included a “preview” of Genfest Phase 3: workshops were held on different themes, always with a view to “caring” for life in its different expressions. Finally, a journey around the world with stories of personal resilience or social action, but all that had fraternity as their motivation to “embrace humanity and initiate change.” The second day’s program was concluded on the Genfest stage which saw a number of young people from Turkey, Australia, Zimbabwe, Bolivia, Italy and Colombia telling how they have faced or helped others cope with grief when it seems to take away the meaning of life. The presentations, however, were not limited to personal stories. A wide variety of social initiatives were also presented on stage, such as Rimarishun, a cross-cultural project in Ecuador. Also presenting from Brazil were the Amazon Project, Quilombo Rio dos Macacos di Salvador (Afro-descendant communities) and La Casa do Menor, whose choreography received a standing ovation.

Closing Ceremony

The program for the final day of the second phase of Genfest 2024 began by looking to the past to think about the future. Some of the projects launched at the last Genfest in 2018 were recalled and have already begun to bear fruit, even in the real sense, as in the case of planting trees in areas prone to degradation. Following the example of what was done in the last Genfest in Manila, Philippines, some projects were presented to be continued after these days.

The first project will start with the third phase of Genfest. These are the “United World Communities,” which will bring together young people-including those who could not attend the event in Aparecida-in groups by areas of knowledge, from economics to work, from politics to citizenship. Young people interested in the various areas will be able to sign up for these communities based on their “passion,” as the organizers put it.

An important tool for implementing these communities is the United World Project. Launched in 2012 at Genfest in Budapest, Hungary, it is in fact a program to spread fraternity on a large scale and bring together actions in this direction, making it possible to share experiences with many young people around the world.

Another action born of this Genfest, which was more immediate, is the launch of a questionnaire to collect proposals from young people for the “ Pact for the Future,” a manifesto that will be presented at the Summit of the Future, an international summit to be organized by the UN in September 2024.

Building international communities requires dialogue. Much of the session was devoted to this theme. Rabbi Silvina Chemen and a young Muslim leader, Israa Safieddine, shared how they try to build dialogue.

Fourteen young Latin Americans from six Christian churches presented Ikuméni, a workshop of ecumenical and interreligious best practices. These are all initiatives whose ultimate goal is peacebuilding, the theme to which the entire last part of the program was devoted.

Carlos Palma from Uruguay presented the Living Peace project. A video of Chiara Lubich reminded how peace can be built today: by living mutual love.

The young Genfest participants with flags from all countries finally paraded, calling for peace in every nation. At the end, Focolare Movement President Margaret Karram called on everyone to be peacemakers, breaking down barriers that divide people and taking the initiative to forgive: “Let this Genfest be a time to say yes to peace,” she concluded.

Luís Henrique Marques e Airam Lima Jr.
Foto: © Imprensa Genfest 2004 – CSC Audiovisivi