Pope Francis makes an apostolic journey to Marseille from September 22-23, 2023 to conclude the third edition of the “Mediterranean Meetings”.
The initiative arose from the Italian Episcopal Conference in 2020, with the aim of fostering communion between the communities around the Mediterranean and addressing the challenges facing these regions. The meetings were previously held in Italy and Florence respectively.
This year in Marseilles, the Mediterranean Meetings have brought together about 70 Catholic Bishops and 120 young delegates from all over the Mediterranean, as well as several Muslims and participants of other faiths. The visit encourages religious leaders to forge their own unique course in their desire to serve the people in the Mediterranean.
H. E. Cardinal Jean-Marc Aveline, a longtime friend of the International Federation of Catholic Universities, invited Pope Francis to conclude the Mediterranean Meetings 2023. Cardinal Jean-Marc Aveline, Metropolitan Archbishop of Marseille (France), was appointed metropolitan archbishop of Marseille in 2019. He has been created and proclaimed Cardinal by Pope Francis in the consistory of 27 August 2022, of the Title of S. Maria ai Monti. During his years at the head of the Institut Catholique de la Méditerranée, he directed an international project of the International Federation of Catholic Universities on intercultural and interreligious dialogue in the Mediterranean.
Source: IFCU / FIUC