The Season of Creation 2023 has as a special prelude the announcement of Pope Francis who is preparing the second part of Laudato Si’. In addition, it is very likely that the Season of Creation will conclude with the presentation of the aforementioned pontifical document, on the 4th October, 2023.

The XXXVII World Youth Day in Lisbon, Portugal ended with the celebration of Holy Mass in Lisbon’s Tejo Park in front of one and a half million young people, priests, religious, authorities and volunteers.

On Sunday the 30th July fr. Massimo Fusarelli, Minister General, arrived in Lisbon for a meeting with the Franciscan friars and the young people of the Laudato Si’ Movement (LSM). Both groups were preparing to develop an integral ecology programme at WYD Lisbon 2023.

On Tuesday 1st August, the Patriarch of Lisbon, H.E. Card. Manuel Clemente, celebrated the Holy Opening Mass of the XXXVII World Youth Day, which takes place in Lisbon, Portugal, until 6th August. Thousands of young people from all over the world took part, gathered at Parco Edoardo VII; as part of the Integral Ecology program, 40 Friars Minor from many parts of the world have taken care of the Park and the gardens it contains.

On the occasion of the World Youth Day that takes place in Lisbon, Portugal, from the 1st to the 6th August 2023, we interviewed Br. Daniel Rodríguez Blanco, OFM, Director of the Office of Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation (JPIC) of the General Curia in Rome, to illustrate the commitment of JPIC animators in the world meeting that Pope John Paul II conceived in 1985.

In the month of May this year, torrential rains flooded western and northern provinces of Rwanda triggering flash flooding and landslides which left at least 130 people dead, 18 000 people displaced, 6000 houses damaged and others facilities such as roads, bridges schools, health care centers demolished.