Franco Pisano

The meeting of economists, entrepreneurs, and changemakers under 35 began with live streaming today. It includes 27 webinars in 12 areas: work and care, management and giving, finance and humanity, agriculture and justice, energy and poverty, profit and vocation, policies and happiness, CO2 inequality, business and peace, women and the economy, businesses in transition, life and lifestyles.

“If in prayer we understand that every day given by God is a call, then we open our hearts and welcome everything. We learn to say: 'What You want, Lord. Just promise me that you will be present at every step of my journey. ' This is important: ask the Lord for His presence, so that He does not abandon us”.

This will mark the beginning of the next World Youth Day (WYD). The 34th edition was held in Panama from 22 to 27 January 2019 (pictured); the next will held in Lisbon in 2023.

Pope Francis will celebrate Mass in St Peter's Basilica next Sunday, but “only 100 people will be present” to “represent symbolically all the poor people of the world”. Focusing on the theme ‘Stretch forth your hand to the poor’, the Pope seeks “to emphasise the urgency to which the COVID-19 pandemic has subjected the entire world.”

Francis recalls yesterday’s publication of the Report into the "painful case" of the former Cardinal McCarrick at the general audience and renews his "closeness to the victims of all abuse and the Church's commitment to eradicate this evil".

The "Report on the Holy See’s Institutional Knowledge and Decision-Making Related to Former Cardinal Theodore Edgar McCarrick (1930 to 2017) is published. Card. Parolin: "We publish the Report with sorrow for the wounds that this has caused to the victims, their families, the Church in the United States, the Universal Church".

The Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue released a message for Hindus on the occasion of Diwali. “Experiences of suffering and a sense of responsibility for one another have brought our communities together in solidarity and concern, in acts of kindness and compassion for the suffering and those in need.”

​Yesterday’s decision implements a request Francis made by letter in August. The latter says: “Particular attention must be paid to the investments made in London and the Centurion fund, from which we must exit as soon as possible, or at least, dispose of them in such a way as to eliminate all reputational risks".

Celebrating Mass in suffrage for the cardinals and bishops who died in the last year, Francis said: "We are called to leave behind the visible world we take for granted, our usual, commonplace ways of thinking, and to entrust ourselves entirely to the Lord who tells us: “I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die” (Jn 11:25-26)".

Because of the contagion "we must be very careful with the recommendations of the political and healthcare authorities". Prayer is "the rudder that guides Jesus' course", it is "above all listening to and meeting God", it is "an art to be practiced with insistence", it is "the place where one perceives that everything comes from God and returns to Him” it is “abandoning oneself into the hands of the Father”.

Thai Airways International is offering a special flight for passengers who want to chant Buddhist mantras over 99 Thai holy sites in Thailand on 30 November.

Francis celebrated mass on All Souls’ Day at the Teutonic Cemetery in the Vatican. “Hope is an anchor, clinging on a rope, we support each other,” he said.