Some time ago, thanks to modern technology, after many years of not seeing each other my former school classmates reunited: we created a group on WhatsApp. Between anecdotes and old photos, we managed to identify a companion that no one had heard from anymore and we added him to the group.
He told us that he lived on the street. A series of health problems, a battle with cancer, losing his job and family break up had left him with nothing. At first, some of us contributed some money, but faced with a second call for help, the response was silence or rejection.
Even though we hadn’t been close friends at school, I felt couldn’t just look on. I thought that since he had reappeared in my life through that WhatsApp group, I should do something. I couldn’t simply ignore him
I decided to meet him. I wanted to see for myself how he was doing and listen to him. He had spent a few days in a hostel, but had soon ended up back on the street. I didn’t have the means to solve his housing problem or offer him a home, but I felt the need to discern what God wanted from me in that situation.
We met and talked for a long time. I was deeply moved by the decline in his physical health, so I offered to help him with a natural medicine that I could provide so that, at least, he might regain a bit of peace and well-being. But beyond his physical state, I remembered that he had once felt a strong religious vocation and that he had even been on the verge of entering the seminary. I asked him about his faith.
He told me that he had distanced himself from everything; he had not set foot in a church or approached the sacraments for years. With complete sincerity, I advised him that since his illness was progressing and he felt in danger, he should seek refuge in God.
I suggested that he go to Mass, talk to a priest and, if he felt up to it, go to confession. The next day he called me overcome with emotion. He had gone to church, gone to confession and received communion. He thanked me from the bottom of his heart because he realized that, having lost all material things, his relationship with God was the only thing he really had left.
We’re still in touch today. He managed to get a pension and is feeling a little better. I continue to help him with this natural medicine complementary to his treatment and, every now and then, we meet for coffee or I bring him something he needs, like a pair of trainers. But over time I have come to understand that the most important thing was neither medicine nor shoes: it was the fact that someone stopped to talk to him.
Sometimes, a “neighbour” appears in a WhatsApp group and we run the risk of leaving them trapped in virtuality, where no one assumes any responsibility. My friend taught me that being attentive to another person’s needs, even if we cannot provide a definitive solution, is already a lot. If we could all make even a small gesture, how different things would be for other people! Let’s not allow others to be just a message on a screen, let’s make our help concrete, human and, above all, present.
Far more than a simple closing celebration, it was the visible stage of a journey built throughout the year by hundreds of young people across Italy and Albania. It is already looking to the future, aiming higher with the desire to involve many more young people, teams, and initiatives in the years ahead, both across Europe and around the world.
The Expo Fest of Time to Change ended in Castel Gandolfo (Rome, Italy), on 6th-7th June. The programme engaged around 1,300 young people and 105 teams, challenging them to take action through practical projects in solidarity, active citizenship, environmental stewardship, inclusion, and peace for the common good.
Almost 600 youth from 52 teams met. Among the comments collected from participants were: “I have become more aware of my actions and I have paid much more attention to those who find themselves in difficult situations”. “I understand how valuable some friendships are.” “I carry in my heart the beauty of what was born here and the silent strength that these days have generated”. These are some of the impressions gathered from the participants, protagonists of an event that gave voice not only to the 9 finalist teams, but to all the realities involved.
During the event, voting and the final award ceremony took place. The Trent Gen Time to Change team from Trent won first place; Children of the Sun from Taranto ranked second; Time to Change from Milan ranked third. Special prizes were awarded to the teams from Piedmont and Valle d’Aosta, the “Alfonso Gatto” High School in Agropoli and the Albanian team Alboomerang.
Through moments of sharing, personal testimonies, music, dance, discussion, workshops and flash mobs, each group was able to tell their contribution to change. At the heart of the event was a large space dedicated to stories: those of young people who have chosen to step outside themselves to meet others; of schools that have transformed civic education into a concrete experience; of local groups that created afterschool programmes, artistic initiatives, environmental projects and acts of solidarity towards people living in vulnerable situations.
The projects presented demonstrated how change can be lived in everyday life. For example the Alfonso Gatto Linguistic High School in Agropoli (Salerno), carried out a project dedicated to the1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Students engaged people in the street, with questions about fundamental rights, handing out symbolic badges to “friends of human rights” and donating copies of the Declaration to those who wished to know it better.
There were 18 young people from Albania. Through the Time to Change programme they took part in theatre and art activities for children, ecological walks, training sessions and meetings with young people welcomed into family homes. Regjina Paluca explained, “In the community, there are young people between the ages of three and twenty. Some told us that they grew up in a family home: they arrived as children and now attend university. It was very touching for our youth. They saw that those thirty young people all live together in the same house, while they, at the end of the day, would each return to their own home. We will continue this work in the future, because the project is spreading rapidly: young people carry a beauty within them that they want to share with their friends.”
A significant part of the journey focussed on personal vulnerability. The experiences of Edoardo, Francesca and Victoria told of isolation, depression, anxiety, bereavement, exclusion and reconciliation. Their stories showed how suffering can become a place of growth, relationship, renewed faith, and openness to others.
The journey was also inspired by a poem written in 2005 by Margaret Karram, President of the Focolare Movement, who, in front of “the long, high, grey wall” of Jerusalem, ” stretching through the city, dividing neighbourhoods, streets, lands and families”, reflected on the meaning of her life and the divisions of her Holy Land in the light of Jesus crucified and abandoned, hope against all hope.
During the event, Margaret Karram, presented a travelling trophy to the winning team, Trent Gen Time to Change. The trophy will accompany future editions of the project and will be passed each year to the new winning team.
In her brief greeting, she reminded participants that living peace requires courage, and that peace begins with personal change. “The first peace is Jesus,” she said, “who died for us, but He rose to give us peace and to redeem each one of us.”
As one of the participants wrote, Time to Change “does not limit itself to talking about change, but makes it possible”. The wave started by these young people now continues, reaching ever higher.
Encounter, celebration and commitment: three words that summarise the 35 years of the Economy of Communion (EoC), commemorated from 25th-30th May 2026.More than 400 people participated in a two-phase program. In the first, participants had an immersive experience in 16 Latin American communities and businesses that put the culture of communion into practice. In the second, they gathered in Buenos Aires, Argentina, for an international forum dedicated to celebrating the journey and present reality of the EoC and committing to its future.
Regenerating “wounds” from the inside out
Communion, as a force for regeneration, stops focusing exclusively on the poverty of a territory and instead highlights its social, cultural and spiritual riches. For this reason, that’s where the celebration began: entering the depths of those who suffer daily in order to get in touch with and imagine together a different economy. Sixteen initiatives from three Latin American countries opened their doors to participants for the first part of this celebration. Through group activities, guided visits, participatory exercises and moments of dialogue, each person was able to listen, welcome the reality of the other, encounter it directly, understand it, express it and share it.
“I participated in the experience at the Nuevo Sol Centres in Buenos Aires. What struck me the most was not the poverty or the enormous inequality that exists in the suburbs of Buenos Aires, but the strength with which love weaves communities in this region. The challenges are more difficult, which is why love is more concrete, more active and closer”, said Luz Villafañe, from Tucumán, Argentina.
The Entrepreneurial Journey with the Economy of Communion
After these experiences, the participants met in Buenos Aires on 29th-30th May and took part in a forum held at the “Usina del Arte” Cultural Centre.
Voices from different countries, cultures and social classes, including entrepreneurs, start-uppers, community leaders and indigenous leader, took turns on stage demonstrating the transformative power of this vocation. There were experiences of small and large entrepreneurs, of those whose projects are dedicated to the care of the earth, of those who live interculturality as a richness and make choices of communion as a vocation, as a lifestyle.
Commitments for the Future
The culminating moment of the celebration was a global pact signed by all those present, individually and collectively, to promote, within the economy, a culture that places human relationships at the centre and aims to put regenerative approaches into practice, approaches capable of creating communion. During a global online link up held on the morning of the 30th, almost 300 people joined the Buenos Aires hall, connected from all over the world, to solemnly reaffirm the pact that unites the entire Economy of Communion network.
The EoC also unveiled two new developments to celebrate the present and look to the future: a new visual identity and a new application to connect people, businesses and projects globally. To learn more, visit https://www.globaledc.org/.
This large global community aspires to carry forward the culture of encounter, to work for a more just economy, to recognize the central role of the people in vulnerable situations, and to contribute to the building of more fraternal communities through relationships. As many repeated during the event, “No one is so poor as to have nothing to give and no one is so rich as to have nothing to receive”.
Following the profound experience shared with young people during the 2026 Hackathon, the second phase of the “One Humanity, One Planet: Synodal Leadership” programme is now getting underway. It offers a six-month virtual training course that combines in-depth study and dialogue based on participants’ diverse backgrounds, the exchange of projects and experiences, and the development of initiatives with local impact and global reach.
It is aimed at people aged between 18 and 40 who have experience in political representation, public administration, social movements, political parties and advocacy; who are committed to social and political transformation or interested in strengthening their capacity for dialogue, cooperation and collective action; and who are willing to contribute both practically and intellectually throughout the programme.
Lasting six months, delivered 100% online, completely free of charge with an estimated commitment of three hours per week, the programme aims to reach 500 young people this year.
“We are living in a historical moment marked by deep geopolitical tensions, socio-environmental crises, increasing social fragmentation, and high levels of polarization,” say the organisers in their introduction. “These challenges call upon us: they reveal the limits of traditional governance models and the urgent need for new forms of leadership capable of generating dialogue and activating processes of collective action to promote peace and unity. In this context, we have chosen a synodal style of leadership: a leadership based on listening, participation, shared responsibility, and the construction of shared solutions. If you believe that politics can be a space to regenerate relationships, promote the common good, and care for humanity and the planet, this call is for you. We invite you to become part of an international space for training and cocreation of political initiatives together with other young leaders from different regions of the world, in order to rethink governance in the face of today’s challenges”.
The deadline for applications is Friday 19 June 2026.
Five hundred people from 43 countries, representing every continent, have gathered in different parts of Latin America, for this important event dedicated to the Economy of Communion, 35 years after its birth.This “path of regeneration”, as it has been defined, began on 25th May 2026 and is a kind of “journey” of the Economy of Communion through various regions that will end on 29th-30th May in Buenos Aires. The first stage involves participants immersing themselves in different social projects around the Southern Cone. The key word of this experience is “encounter”: encounter between different worlds, lives, situations and different forms of wealth. A “meeting again” that generates relationships and communities.
Isaías Hernando, from Spain, a member of the International Commission of the Economy of Communion explained, “The Economy of Communion is lived by bringing together people from different sectors, entrepreneurs and academics, those who live in situations of poverty or vulnerability and indigenous populations. In some way it aims to offer a preview of what a different economy can really be like. This is precisely the spirit of the first phase of the event: it is not just a matter of visiting symbolic places, but of entering into situations where this experience is already visible. Not simply showing it but engaging in dialogue and a deep encounter between people from different cultures and those who live in situations of fragility. It is an experience that highlights the vocation of the Economy of Communion – to build fraternal communities “.
Why do we talk about “regeneration”? Anouk Grevin, from France, Coordinator of the International Commission of the Economy of Communion told us: “The idea of regeneration comes from the desire to care for the wounds of the economy and of our earth. Wounds regenerate from within – the skin rebuilds itself around the wound. Of course, there can be help from the outside, but everything begins there. This is the meaning we wanted to express in thinking about the regeneration process.”
It is a project in which the protagonists are those who live in the very places where wounds exist, who dwell within serious wounds. Anouk added, “It is a journey in which all of us have recognized ourselves as part of this fraternal and global community. We do not bring answers, we do not bring resources, we bring an experience of communion that is intended in itself to be generative”.
A characteristic of the Economy of Communion is that it requires the involvement of all the actors together: entrepreneurs, scholars, ordinary citizens, employees, micro-entrepreneurs and people who live in difficult situations. Anouk further stated, “It is not just an entrepreneurial project or a business model, but a community of people building a new economy together, precisely in places that are often not associated with the dominant economy, and that are already generating something new”.
The work is ongoing. There has been a vast range of experiences since the birth of the Economy of Communion and it is hoped that the days in Buenos Aires will open up new perspectives, as Hernando desires: “I believe that the intuition that Chiara Lubich had in 1991, when she launched the Economy of Communion in Brazil, had a strong prophetic character, in the sense that living this experience and making it real, means in some way anticipating the future. In this sense, I think that at this moment of history, the Economy of Communion is called to highlight that prophecy, somehow making it real and incarnate albeit on a small scale”.
by Carlos Mana Photo: Courtesy of EdC
WORK ON VARIOUS SOCIAL PROJECTS
Sunrise, EcuadorVolcadero, Paraná, Entre Ríos (AR)Mariápolis Lía, O’Higgins (AR)Scuola Chiara Lubich, JCPaz (AR)Rete Piccoli produttori, Entre Ríos (AR)Casita Estrella, Paraná (AR)Fondazione Lucia, Tucumán (AR)Scuola Aurora, Catamarca (AR)Custodi della Casa Comune, La Plata (AR)Asunción, Paraguay
It was a morning that marked a significant moment in the history of the Church. On 25th May 2026 in the Synod Hall in the Vatican, Pope Leo XIV presented his first encyclical Magnifica Humanitas, on safeguarding the human person in the time of Artificial Intelligence. It was the first time that a Pope was present in the Hall where his magisterial document was being presented to the public.
The encyclical was signed on 15th May, the 135th anniversary of the promulgation of the encyclical letter Rerum Novarum by Pope Leo XIII, who recognized in the industrial transformations of his time a profoundly human and social issue. This encyclical defends the human person in today’s time of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and calls for new urgent reflections on the role and future of technological progress.
After the interventions of experts and theologians, the Pontiff spoke. He focused on the “gravity of the moment” we are living through, which is a cause for concern in the Church which is called to “interpret new things in the light of the Gospel and the dignity of the person”. He explained that the document was born “from listening” to scientists and engineers who “work with sincere enthusiasm on technologies capable of alleviating immense suffering; listening to political leaders and public officials who have persistently sought just regulations; listening to parents and teachers deeply concerned about the future of the young generations”. He used strong words: “Artificial Intelligence must be disarmed. The expression is strong, I know”, Leo admitted, “but it was chosen deliberately because this moment needs words capable of attracting attention, awakening consciences and indicating ways forward for humanity”.
The Pontiff recalled that for some time “the Church has worked in favour of nuclear disarmament, as a service to peace and to the dignity of the human family”. Likewise, “Artificial Intelligence today also needs to be disarmed, because like nuclear energy, it must be at the service of all and of the common good. (…) Decisions about technology must never be separated from conscience and responsibility”. “But when technology weakens our critical sense, it is peace itself that is at risk. Disarming, however, is not enough. We must build.” Together.
The encyclical
“Magnifica Humanitas is the culmination of 10 year’s work of the Holy See,” said Msgr. Paul Desmond Tighe, secretary of the Dicastery for Culture and Education during the press briefing. In 2016 a French priest began to study some topics related to communication and technology. “In San Francisco (USA) he met some experts who wanted to inform the Holy See about technological developments that could influence the future of the world, Tighe continued, “For these scientists it was important to have the perspective of wise voices, so they sought collaboration with the Holy See”, leading to a synergy based on mutual listening
Christopher Olah, Co-founder of Anthropic (USA), one of the world’s leading artificial intelligence companies, also spoke at the Vatican presentation: “We need an every larger part of the world, religious communities, civil society, scholars and governments, to do what His Holiness has done here: to take all this seriously, to carefully observe events as they unfold and help guide them in a better direction. Today is only the beginning of a long collaboration between those of us who are building this technology and those who can see what we ourselves cannot see from the inside”.
Divided into five chapters, plus an introduction and a conclusion, Magnifica Humanitas starts from a central thesis: technology is not an “antagonistic force with respect to humanity”, nor is it “in itself an evil”. The Pontiff affirms that “injustices do not arise only from the wrong choices made by individuals, but also from structures, mechanisms and from economic and cultural structures that produce inequality”. This also applies to new technologies.
Leo’s concern focuses on the power that when concentrated in a few hands, “tends to become opaque and to escape public control”, bringing with it the risk of distorted development “which generates new dependencies, exclusions, manipulations and inequalities”. Here attention is directed toward those who control platforms, infrastructures and digital data.
Pope Leo XIV reiterated once again that there is no such thing as a “just war”. He called for the use of Artificial Intelligence in warfare to be subjected to the strictest ethical constraints because “there is no algorithm that can make war morally acceptable”.
We need “a politics that does not abdicate its responsibility”. The truth must be expresses through an “ecology of communication” opposed to fake news. The Pope indicated some elements: transparency in the content-selection algorithms, protection of personal data, serious journalism based on argument and verification, a new awareness in the “correct and critical” use of AI and the integration of knowledge.
In concluding the letter, the Pontiff invited the faithful to inhabit new technologies in the light of the Gospel, following “a sober and demanding path of Christian life”, so that even in the time of AI everyone can give witness to “the beauty of a magnificent humanity inhabited by God”.
