IV EoF (((ON AIR))) Global Gathering

The Economy of Francesco: the fourth global online meeting in Assisi on October 6th

A new message addressed by the Holy Father to the world’s young economists and entrepreneurs is awaited

For the fourth year in a row, the young economists, change-makers and entrepreneurs of The Economy of Francesco (EoF), will gather to celebrate the annual meeting that collects and narrates initiatives, ideas and processes launched and matured since the beginning; the key point is keep deepening the problems that today’s economy must face and setting goals for the new year. The global economy is living in difficult times: the war in Europe and the many wars in the world, the environmental crisis getting worse and worse, the growing and new inequalities are some of the challenges that are becoming more and more serious and urgent.

One of the main challenges is a need for new narratives. Reflection on the importance of grounding again the spiritual and narrative capitals of our time has accompanied the EoF community throughout the 2023, because – as the organizers recall – ‘without transforming experiences into stories, facts do not become social phenomena, they risk remaining dumb facts. Collective events begin when we try to tell them to someone who wants to listen to us’. In getting ready for the October event, the young people were also invited to put their hands at a storytelling exercise through a contest entitled The stories we are, open to many narrative and artistic expressions.

About a year after the event in Assisi (September 22nd-24th 2022), the meeting on October 6th, entitled “The 25th hour. EoF (on air) Global Gathering” will therefore seek to collect stories, dreams, vocations and experiences that are part of the capital of The Economy of Francesco and that have a voice and a face in each of the young protagonists of this global community. There are great expectations for the message that the Holy Father will address to the young economists and entrepreneurs of the world, gathered online for the occasion.

As per tradition, the event will be broadcasted from Assisi, the ideal home of EoF. The program will feature young people connected from all over the world who will share their stories and talents, at a service of an economy with a soul. The live streaming will be transmitted from the Theatre of the Seraphic Institute, in the form of a web-radio. “The Seraphic Institute, in EoF, raises the voice of the most fragile ones, because it is precisely through their difficulties that new visions can mature, able to give impetus and renewal to society and economy- the words of Francesca Di Maolo, President of the Seraphic Institute of Assisi. “That is actually what we ask the young people of EoF: keeping in their eyes and in their hearts the faces of those who are most in need of help, in order to redesign a world that is just, fair, and really inclusive”.

The Economy of Francesco is one of the processes desired and started by Pope Francis (May 1st  2019) who, we recall, is going to publish a second part of Laudato Si’ next October 4th. An Encyclical that for many young people of EoF has represented an important cultural and spiritual framework. On October 6th, therefore, it will also be interesting for the “EoF generation” to gather the first reflections to discuss and highlight the steps taken so far, under the commitment to build an integral economy together with a new ecology.