Young people from 25 countries gather today in São Paulo to celebrate the 6th World Youth Meeting of Scholas - World ORT

One hundred young people from 80 cities are meeting in Brazil, with education at the center of the discussion as the most powerful tool for building interreligious and intercultural dialogue among young people for a culture of peace. Pope Francis will send a virtual message to the youth on the concluding day.

São Paulo, Oct. 23 - The VI World Youth Gathering organized by the Scholas Occurrentes International Educational Movement and the World ORT will be held for the sixth time from Oct. 23 to 26 in the state of São Paulo, where they will experience coexistence, dialogue and reflection.

Young people from Argentina, Bulgaria, Brazil, Colombia, Spain, the United States, El Salvador, Ecuador, Haiti, Israel, Italy, Mexico, Mozambique, Portugal, Panama, Peru, Paraguay, Venezuela, and South Africa will celebrate cultural and religious diversity by sharing activities and experiences that promote a culture of encounter.

During this first day, young people will have a Scholas educational experience that will seek to reconnect with life through art, sports and technology. Three speakers will also participate in this first day: Marcelo Rocha, Waleska Queiroz, and Gabriel Waldman.

The collaboration between Scholas and World ORT began in October 2017 when, at the Vatican and in the presence of Pope Francis, Scholas World President José María del Corral and Latin American entrepreneur and World ORT member Darío Werthein decided to bring together young people from all over the world, of different religions and socio-economic backgrounds, to participate in an open, meaningful and multicultural dialogue. This event was first held in 2016 in Vatican City. It was followed by editions in Jerusalem (2017), Buenos Aires (2018), Mexico City (2019) and Panama (2022). These countries declared it to be of educational and cultural interest.

The proposal, which this time has the strategic organizational support of the Leo Werthein Foundation and Vrio Corp, parent company of SKY Brazil and DIRECTV Latin America, will extend beyond the shared days: young people will return to their countries as leaders to help build a different, respectful and peaceful world.

José María del Corral said, "In the midst of the times in which we live, it is a light of hope that young people of different religions and from 25 countries will gather in Jaguariúna and San Pablo to celebrate the need to respond to Pope Francis' call to live the culture of encounter, uniting the language of the head with the language of the heart and hands." In these days, each with their own identity, they will share their beliefs and also their questions and fears; they can create together a new harmony that the whole world needs."

With Hebraica as the venue, São Paulo will thus become the epicenter of two important international educational gatherings, as the same venue will also host the fifth "School

Plus Congress, Connecting Knowledge: Digital Literacy in the 21st Century," the flagship educational program of Vrio Corp.

"The World Youth Meeting and the 5th Congress of Escuela Plus are valuable opportunities to build a better present and future for our communities. In these terrible times for humanity, because of the terrible events in the Middle East and the constant and cruel threat of terrorism, these meetings allow us to work for respect, inclusion, peace, diversity, intercultural and interreligious dialogue," said Dario Werthein, shareholder of Grupo Werthein and president of the Leo Werthein Foundation and Vrio Corp, the holding company that controls the operations of SKY Brazil and DIRECTV Latin America. He added, "The public and private sectors agree to focus on building a new path based on common ground: the need to belong and find meaning in life. The key to the future lies in young people, in real and deep transformation of the concrete problems of each community."