Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Rome (Agenzia Fides) – March 12-15, Rome will host the St. Paul’s Jubilee of University Students, promoted and organized by the Vicarage of Rome – Office for University Pastoral Care, Congregation for Catholic Education, the Pontifical Council for Culture, in cooperation with the Ministry of Education, University and Research, the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, the Ministry for Economic Development, the Region of Latium, the Province of Rome, and the Municipality of Rome. The main event of the Jubilee will be the Mass presided by Cardinal Zenon Grocholewski, Prefect of the Congregation for Catholic Education, with the university students' profession of faith, on Sunday, March 15 at 10:30 in the Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls.
During the Jubilee, from March 12-14, there will be an International Forum of Universities on the theme: “Gospel and culture for a new Humanism.” The inaugural ceremony will take place on the 12th at 4:30pm in the Protomoteca Hall at Campidoglio. After greeting civil and religious authorities, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, Vatican Secretary of State, the Minister of Education, University, and Research, Maria Stella Gelmini and Cesare Mirabelli, President Emeritus of the Constitutional Court, will introduce the sessions. The Magisterial Speeches will be given by Archbishop Gianfranco Ravasi, President of the Pontifical Council for Culture – on “The Gospel meets Cultures” - and Eric Mcluhan, Professor Emeritus University of Toronto (Canada), on “The Gospel in the Contemporary Aeropagus.”
On Friday, 13th and Saturday, 14th, the Convention will continue at the European University of Rome. There will be parallel sessions subdivided into four areas of reflection: Human being: genealogy, biology, biography; Society, environment, economy; The point of view of sciences and technologies; Memory and creativity: history, language, literature and arts. The African Session on Saturday, March 14 at 11:30am, will consider two main themes: University Pastoral Care in Africa; and the relationship between the Gospel and scientific and technological culture in Africa: what problems are there?
Upon the conclusion of the sessions, on the 14th at 8:30, in the Auditorium Parco della Musica - Sala Sinopoli, there will be a concert entitled “The Musical Interculture for a New Humanism.” During the jubilee days, there is also an international convention organized: “Ad ulteriores gentes - The Christianity in the Middle East from I to VII cent” at the Italian Institute for Africa and the Orient, and a convention entitled “The University Cooperation for an Economic Sustainable Development,” promoted along with the Ministry for Foreign Affairs and Economic Development, which will take place on Thursday, 12th, at 10am in the Conference Hall of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs. (SL) (Agenzia Fides 11/3/2009)
