You will have speeches locked in and hands searching the pockets of life and a radio to hear that the war is over.

C. Baglioni (singer- song writer)

So, we would really like to turn on the radio tomorrow morning and hear that war, all wars are over. Weaving Economies for Peace is the title Latin American youth have chosen for the 3rd International Congress of the Economy of Francesco, in Latin America and the Caribbean, which will be held on Oct. 4-6, 2023 in Colombia.

In 2021, the first fully online International Congress was held, based at the Pontifical Catholic University of Parana (Brazil) in collaboration with 20 other institutions. Then, in 2022, the International Program on Democracy, Society, and New Economies (PIDESONE) organized the second International Congress in hybrid mode at the University of Buenos Aires (Argentina), involving more than 10 institutions and civil society organizations in other different local venues (Brazil, Mexico, and Colombia).

For this third edition, the Catholic University of Colombia, La Gran Colombia University, and the Center for Historical Memory will open their doors and welcome young people from all over the Central and South American region who will participate in person or virtually, to continue co-creating an economy with a soul that knows how to listen to the cry of the earth and the poor through discussions and proposals for stable and lasting solutions. The following topics will be explored: Management&Gift, Work&Care, Business&Peace, Vocation&Profit.

For information and to participate, visit: https://linkr.bio/congreso.latam_EdF

The Congress will conclude on Oct. 6 with a live talk by young participants in the global event that will be broadcast from the Seraphic Institute in Assisi. Precisely on Oct. 6, another major national event will begin, that of the Italians, scheduled until Sunday, Oct. 8. More than 100 young people from all over Italy are expected at the Shrine of the Spoliation in Assisi. In short, it is a real relay race between Colombia and Italy that will pass through the whole world from 4:00 to 6:30 and will be linked to the EoF’s international YouTube channel to celebrate the annual meeting.

Young people from many other countries around the world decided, in the various regional hubs, to gather as a group to participate in the event, which, we wish to remind you, will broadcast its program in the form of web radio. Why radio? many have asked us. In the previous months, while proposing the annual October event, we used the phrase online but not only to indicate that the event would be in an online mode to allow everyone to participate in the link-up but, at the same time, to encourage those who wish to take the opportunity to organize local in-person events. In short, online and a bit offline, not just one, and not without the other. This is precisely the experience that the radio offers! Whether alone, with friends or family, at work or at home, or on the way home from work: when that can’t-miss segment or favorite program starts, you tune in to the frequency with a click! Music, insight, information, and interaction, the radio narrates by suggesting and celebrating humanity with its many languages and sounds, reaches the widest audience, where all voices can express themselves, be represented, and be heard.

But the radio is not only a medium. It is also style and rhythm. After a whole year in which the reflection on narrative capital accompanied the youth of EoF, choosing the radio that privileges words, by definition, seemed very suggestive and natural to us. So we thought of the “grandmother” of all modern communication systems but in its most recent version, that of web radio, where words and sounds, while being always at the center of the narrative, are accompanied by images. So, on October 6 we will listen to each other a lot but we will also be able to see each other, like before and more than ever!

Thus, the Eof (((ON AIR))) was born: to shorten distances, to reach out to the EoF generation wherever they are, and to celebrate the Economy of Francesco, with its load of dreams, experiences, and its own, necessary, new words.

For the complete details of the program, visit www.francescoeconomy.org.

Below is the programme of the 3rd International Congress of the Economy of Francesco, in Latin America and the Caribbean: