The Diplomat
Pope Francis received four young people from the Business Council Alliance for Ibero-America (CEAPI) and the Scholas Occurrentes Foundation in Rome on Friday, who expressed to him the emotions, pains and challenges facing their generation.
The testimony presented is the result of the meeting of young Ibero-Americans that took place in Madrid on 15 and 16 May as part of the 4th CEAPI Ibero-American Congress. During those two days, thirty young people from Argentina, Panama, Dominican Republic, Paraguay, Mexico, Portugal and Spain were able to work together, meet, listen to each other and give voice to their concerns and hopes.
Two members of the CEAPI youth forum and two linked to Scholas Occurrentes travelled to Rome, together with Núria Vilanova, president of CEAPI; Mireya Cisneros, founder of Unidos en Red; Alejandro Bulgheroni, president of Pan American Energy Group; Bettina Bulgheroni, founder and president of the Educando Foundation; Gilberto Marín, president of Alquimara; Juan Miguel Sucunza, president of the Confederación Empresarial Navarra and vice-president of CEAPI; Patricia Abruña, president of the Jaime Alonso Abruña Foundation, and Verónica Lobo. The meeting with the Pontiff took place at the Vatican headquarters of Scholas Occurrentes, in the Palace of St. Callixtus, in the popular district of Trastevere.
The conclusions on the theme ‘Dreaming together the path towards a better future’, drawn from the exchange of these two days in Madrid, were handed over to the Holy Father, who a few days earlier had presented CEAPI and the Ibero-American Youth with an olive tree, a symbol of peace and of all that unites us.
The tree was handed over on the opening day of the Congress, 17 May, to Almudena Maíllo, Councillor for Tourism and Secretary General of the Union of Ibero-American Capital Cities, to be planted in Madrid. The olive tree will be accompanied by a commemorative plaque blessed by Pope Francis and received by Núria Vilanova. The tree and the plaque will remain as a reminder of this fraternal meeting of young Ibero-Americans.
During the working days in Madrid, prior to the Congress, a space was created to raise awareness through games and art, in which the participants shared their vision of reality and delved into the problems and challenges they face in their daily lives.
On the first day of the 4th CEAPI Ibero-American Congress, a group of these young people presented themselves to the Ibero-American entrepreneurs, accompanied by José María del Corral, founder and world director of Scholas Occurrentes, and recounted their experiences, objectives and conclusions. “We met people from different countries and different cultures, today united in a common goal: to change for the better,” they said.ç
“We came to the conclusion that what is important is emotional education, that we have a common sense, emotions; that is what unites us all the most. By creating that, we bring out the pains, and with the pains, we bring out the dreams,” the young people said.
To close the presentation, they sang before the Ibero-American entrepreneurs a song that emerged as an artistic expression of their work. In the chorus, they conclude strongly: “Solo no se puede, tu dolor es mi dolor” (We can’t do it alone, your pain is my pain).
At the closing dinner of the CEAPI Congress, an auction was held, the proceeds of which are earmarked for the educational work of the Scholas Occurrentes Foundation.
