"I have waited more than three years for this moment, since 1 May 2019, when I wrote you the letter that called and then brought you here to Assisi. For many of you – as we have just heard – the encounter with the Economy of Francesco awakened something that was already within you. You were already committed to creating a new economy; my letter brought you together, gave you a broader horizon and made you feel part of a worldwide community of young people who have the same vocation. When a young person sees in another young person the same calling, and this experience is repeated with hundreds, even thousands of other young people, then great things become possible, even the hope of changing an enormous and complex system like the world economy."
With these words the Holy Father Francis began his conversation with the young participants in the world event "The Economy of Francis", which was held in Assi from 22 to 24 September and gathered around a thousand young economists, researchers, entrepreneurs and changemakers from all over the world, committed to a renewed economy, at the service of mankind and the environment.
The Pope then reminded the young people of their mission: "You are called to become artisans and builders of our common home, a common home that “is falling into ruin”. Today, a new economy inspired by Francis of Assisi can and must become an economy of friendship with the earth and an economy of peace. It is a question of transforming an economy that kills (cf. Evangelii Gaudium, 53) into an economy of life, in all its aspects. That “good life” is not the sweet life or living it well, no.Good living is the mysticism that the indigenous peoples teach us to have in relation to the earth".
HERE is the full speech.
At the Press Conference presenting the initiative, at the Holy See Press Office. Sr. Alessandra Smerilli, Secretary of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development and Member of the Scientific Committee of "The Economy of Francesco", had recalled the dynamic character of the event, which shows itself as a path already underway, rich in experiences, in continuous evolution: "The Economy of Francesco is not an event: it is a process that is already underway, it is a set of initiatives, a world network of young people, which will see a public moment in Assisi, and from there it will start out again to continue in daily life. The Economy of Francesco is putting together the prophecy of "Laudato si" and "Fratelli tutti", and the courage to touch, to embrace poverty, proper to St Francis of Assisi".
