(ANS - Rome) – 4 to 7 July were the days Rome hosted seminarians, male and female novices, and those on their vocational journey in this Year of Faith. Among the 6,000 who took part, from 66 countries, were the Salesian novices from "Monte Oliveto" in Pinerolo (Turin) and the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians novices from Turin and Castel Gandolfo (Rome).

The days began with a very warm welcome by Mgr Rino Fisichella, President of the Pontifical Council for Promoting the New Evangelisation, immediately creating a family and brotherly atmosphere. On Thursday evening, gathered around the obelisk in St Peter's Square, the young people had a heart warming experience: each in their own language, professed the Creed, the one faith that unites all people.

In the Paul VI Hall, Saturday, 6 July, Mgr Fisichella introduced the young people in formation to Pope Francis: "It was right that in the Year of Faith a time would be set aside solely for these young people, as it has been for so many others, and as it will be for the young people in Rio de Janeiro in a few days time."

Among his words of encouragement for these young people, the Pope recalled the provisional character of today's culture, in which it is not easy to make definitive choices, and people have to defend themselves from it by shutting the door of the interior cell.

The presence of the novices in Rome was enriched by the publication of Lumen Fidei. Many of them took advantage of their moments of relaxation between one appointment and the next to delve into reading the first encyclical of Pope Francis

Praying at the tomb of Peter, touching the places frequented by many saints, discovering friendship with many other peers who share the same vocation and are travelling along the same stretch of road and being able to spend a little time with Peter's successor "has allowed them deepen their faith even more," Mgr Fisichella told the Pope, recalling what the Pope himself had written in Lumen Fidei, that faith also needs the senses, it must be able to see, hear and touch.

For all of them it will remain an unforgettable memory in the years ahead - said the President of the Pontifical Council for Promoting the New Evangelisation - and a major milestone in their formation that will soon see them become priests and missionaries, consecrated persons, capable of reaching all people with a commitment to an ever renewed evangelisation, because they are faithful contemplators of the face of Christ.

Published on 10/07/2013