With a historic touch, Pope Francis united the physical and virtual worlds

during his visit to Scholas Occurrentes

On 3 August, Pope Francis visited the premises of the international movement Scholas Occurrentes in Cascais to spend some time with its young members. He joined the “Life between the Worlds” project and gave a historical overview in a virtual space.

Cascais, Portugal, 3 August 2023. During the meeting, Pope Francis interacted with the different young people of the movement who participated in different Scholas educational experiences. However, His Holiness, together with Scholas Occurrentes, decided to go further and, in addition to giving the final brushstroke to the physical mural, he gave the first brushstroke to the digital mural in a virtual space. In this way, Pope Francis unites the two worlds and testifies that technology, if used well, can be used to educate and generate encounters.

The project involves the creation of a mural more than 3.5 km long, originating from interreligious, intergenerational and intercultural meetings held in preparation for Pope Francis' visit to the Scholas community in Cascais, Portugal.

The most touching moment of the meeting was when three young people from Scholas Occurrentes, Mariana Barrada, a young Catholic, Paulo Esaka Oliveira Da Silva, an Evangelical, and Aladje Dabo, a young Muslim, testified about their experience during the creation over the past two months and were able to put a question to Pope Francis, who responded in an emotional and joyful manner.

With the brushstroke that unites the worlds, we testify that technology used well serves to educate and generate encounters. Technology is a tool that is used by all of us; we make constant use of it, whether it is on our mobile phone, computer, television or any other technological device.

The mural “Life Between Worlds”, created by the whole community, originated from the Scholas site, where young people from different countries met to share their sorrows and dreams and created an immersive work of art, i.e. they made the “classroom without walls” real. Over the course of two months, the young people met and experienced, as in each of the experiences that are part of this project, Art, Play and Thought.

100 organizations from the community of Cascais, Portugal, participated in the creation of the mural, more than 2000 people who, in groups of 5 to 10, collectively created 300 murals that were brought together into a single work.