Global – “Courage, keep going”: Pope Francis receives young people from communities affected by mining.
In a message of enthusiasm for defending the Common Home, Pope Francis encouraged the young people who make up the Second Caravan for Integral Ecology to follow his prophecy to protect the communities and Mother Earth martyred by mining. "Courage, always move forward," said the Pontiff. The meeting occurred during the General Audience held on the morning of September 20th in St. Peter's Square in the Vatican.
The Church and Mining Network (Red Iglesias y Mineria)
Alex García, Daniela Andrade, Lucy Urvina, and Valentina Vidal – young people participating in the Second Caravan for Integral Ecology, an activity organized by the Red Iglesias y Mineria [RIM] (Church and Mining Network) in collaboration with dozens of ecclesial organizations – greeted Pope Francis immediately after the audience, in which the missionary testimony of Saint Daniel Comboni was recalled as an example of the fight against all forms of slavery. The Pontiff said Christians are called to fight against all forms of exploitation and stressed that "slavery, like colonialism, is not a memory of the past." Francis said that Comboni is a witness of the love of the Good Shepherd, who goes in search of those who are lost and gives his life for the flock. "His [Saint Comboni's] zeal was energetic and prophetic in opposing indifference and exclusion," the Holy Father recollected.
"Meeting Pope Francis is a beautiful experience--he looks at and listens to us. Of course, you feel nervous about being with the Pope. But it is nice to feel that he is one with us," commented Alex García, indigenous to the Xinka people of Guatemala, after meeting the Holy Father. "He is a Pope who smiles, speaks with his heart, looks with his heart, without a disguise," said Daniela Andrade, who traveled from the Amazon of Peru and spoke about intergenerational justice from the time of her mother. There was an incredible feeling of having a Latin American encounter when he greeted us. Although words do not come out when you meet Pope Francis, one can feel a collaboration between Francis and us – Francis and our group," said Valentina Vidal, who comes from the same country as Francis, from southern Argentina. Lucy Urvina, from Ecuador, gave the Pope a clay vessel, a symbol of the work of Amazonian women and an alternative [livelihood] for communities fighting against mining extractivism.
Father Darío Bossi, Comboni missionary and member of the RIM coordination team, who accompanies the young people in the caravan, highlighted the importance of the youth in the urgent need to act against extractivism in Latin American territories. «In his catechesis, Pope Francis highlighted the importance of overcoming the colonial world, where people are still enslaved. A form of slavery today – of nature and people – is mining. The young people of the Second Caravan for Integral Ecology bring a concrete message from the territories for a more just and peaceful world," the missionary stressed. In addition to Father Bossi, Bishop Noel Londoño, from the diocese of Jerico, Colombia, accompanies them as an advisor, and Guilherme Cavalli, coordinator of the Campaign for Mining Divestment.
Source: repam.net
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