"Take Courage": Ghana to Host the First West Africa Youth Days

The idea of a gathering of West African Catholic youth arose from a request by the young people themselves: The initiative was first proposed in Burkina Faso in 2019, and the Bishops gave their approval for the following year. But the event had to be postponed because of the pandemic. Father Vincent de Paul Boro, First Assistant Secretary of CERAO, explained that the gathering is meant to be a "prophetic sign" for the region, able to make young people—coming from sixteen countries and from different cultures and languages—protagonists of a renewed youth pastoral ministry and witnesses of unity in a continent marked by tensions. Father Peter Konteh, President of the Regional Union of Priests of West Africa (URPAO), also addressed a message of closeness to young people, recalling the difficulties many of them face—insecurity, irregular migration, unemployment, poverty—and expressing hope that the event might "awaken a new generation" of Catholics rooted in Christ and courageous in hope.

Representing the Dicastery in Accra will be Father Avelino Chico, who will present a video message from the new Prefect, Sister Alessandra Smerilli, F.M.A., and from Prefect Emeritus Cardinal Michael Czerny, S.J., along with officials, Mario Almeida and Beatrice Binaghi, accompanied by Don Mattia Ferrari, Coordinator of the EMMP (Encuentro Mundial de Movimientos Populares).