![\"00498_18102017_OsservatoreRomano_copyright_resampled-01\"](\"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/00498_18102017_OsservatoreRomano_copyright_resampled-01.jpg\")
<\/a>Nelson from El Salvador greets Pope Francis. Photo credit: \u00a9 Osservatore Romano<\/p><\/div> Raissa (Brazil), Leandro (Argentina), Adela (Peru) and Nelson (El Salvador)<\/strong> took a break from their studies for a couple of months to move to the Rome area, to collaborate at the Gen Centers for the preparations for Genfest 2018<\/a>. From 18\u201319 October they volunteered for the <\/strong>Religions for Peace<\/a> meeting in Rome. Here\u2019s their story in their own words.<\/strong> \u201cWe were there to lend a hand. This meant offering people coffee or a glass of water, or to translate. For us it was a way of seeing Jesus in each person and serve them. \u201cEighty leaders from various religions<\/strong> gathered from a number of countries and began with an audience with Pope Francis<\/a> at the Vatican. It was a brief but intense meeting, during which we also participated, and it profoundly struck a chord with the various leaders. \u201cWe were told that at the end we would be able to briefly greet the pope. So each of us prepared a message. \u201cYour Holiness, we bring you greetings from all the all the Gen<\/a> and young people of the Focolare Movement.<\/a> \u201c\u2018Adelante!\u2019<\/em><\/strong> he told us, which means \u2018Charge forward!\u2019 \u201c\u2018Thank you for your words,\u2019 we responded. \u2018We\u2019ll pray for you always. We would like to invite you to Genfest 2018 in Manila, in the Philippines.\u2019 It was an exciting moment. At a meeting in October promoted by Religions for Peace in Rome, a group of Gen \u2013 young people of the Focolare \u2013 were volunteering. Here are some of their impressions after being encouraged by the pope.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":34,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"give_campaign_id":0,"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-305624","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-non-categorizzato"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/305624","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/34"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=305624"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/305624\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=305624"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=305624"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=305624"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/a>\u201cWe had the opportunity to build a rapport<\/strong> with many of the leaders attending. They were interested and asked us many questions. Two of them told us about projects that they hope to accomplish. \u201cRaissa and I,\u201d says Nelson<\/strong>, \u201cwere busy translating for a Brazilian cardinal into Portuguese. We rejoiced when they said they hoped that young people would also attend the next meetings, which was in sync with what the pope had said about the upcoming Youth Synod in October 2018. \u201cFor us it was really great<\/strong> to see that Religions for Peace is not really about the different faiths facing off, but a place to cooperate in favor of peace and saving the environment. To work for peace means to work for the planet: often wars are caused by inequality and poverty and produce ecological disasters. \u201cIn her address, Focolare<\/a> President<\/a> Maria Voce<\/a> announced that Genfest 2018, \u2018Beyond all borders,\u2019 would take place in Manila. \u2018Ten thousand young people will gather from all latitudes, ethnicities, cultures, religions \u2013 motivated by the idea of building a united world.\u2019 \u201cTo see these important religious leaders together seemed like we were already participating as observers at a tiny Genfest where people work for peace and unity. \u201cWe went to carry out a service, but we didn\u2019t expect to receive such a great gift: to greet the pope and receive, in the name of all the Gen and young people of the Focolare, such encouragement from him: \u2018Adelante!\u2019<\/em><\/strong>\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"