During the Synod for Amazonia, we heard stories of young Indios who struggle against environmental exploitation, in recognition of their own identity, and they want to create an alliance with the young people of the West.  The earth is not a good to be milked dry but an inheritance to be handed down. Marcivana Rodrigues…

The world is afire again, the flames heartbreakingly consume shrubs, trees and forests in Australia, Portugal, Brazil, and recently in California and Siberia and elsewhere too. The world community has reacted in protest to the hundreds of fires burning the Amazon rainforest. These are destroying the habitat of thousands of endangered species and the communities…

In his fourth apostolic journey to the African continent, visiting Mozambique, Madagascar and Mauritius Pope Francis said to young people: “keep dreaming and moving forward”. In Mozambique, Pope Francis encouraged young people of different faiths to not give up in the face of their country’s challenges, but to confront them with joy and hope. “How…

Plastic is so prevalent in our lives that we don’t even notice it anymore. It is convenient. It is cheap. It is ubiquitous. The unfortunate truth is that more than 70 percent of the plastic we use does not get recycled, and much of this plastic trash gets swept into our oceans from beaches or…

The Leadership Development and Mentorship program has an ambitious agenda for training tomorrow’s leaders across Africa. Africa is by far the world’s youngest continent, with a median age of only 18. Such a large population of young people presents an enormous challenge for the governments of Africa’s 54 countries. Resources must be found to ensure…

The students are on the streets, waving banners, banging drums, singing, chanting, and calling for an end to the causes driving climate change that is wrecking the planet. They see the global warming caused by huge amounts of CO2 and methane gases heating up the environment and causing the melting of the ice cap on…

It doesn’t take much to make young people missionaries. Even those who are most frail, limited and troubled can be missionaries in their own way, for goodness can always be shared, even if it exists alongside many limitations. A young person who makes a pilgrimage to ask Our Lady for help, and invites a friend…

The rural youth of the Amazon region would like to remain in their communities but they are aware that they must migrate to the cities. Their aspirations, including education, employment and health-care, cannot be met where they currently live. Added to these are the expectations of their families and communities. Yet even in the obligatory…

Pope Francis in a new book is calling for an alliance between the young and elderly:  “Young people need the dreams of the elders so they can hope in a future. Older people and young people move forward together, and they need each other”. In his Preface, Pope Francis writes: “Only the testimony of the…