Almost 15 young Europeans, as well as youth from Hong Kong, Japan, Lebanon, or South Korea participate in the 42nd European Youth Meeting organised in Wrocław by the Taize Community. The meeting began before yesterday and will last until January 1st.
Pope Francis underlined that this year’s youth meeting is taking place in the homeland of Saint John Paul II and that the Polish nation remained faithful to Christ when “the temptation was to choose the easier way out”. He added that Polish Christians “dared to believe in a different future.”
The Taizé brothers organized European Youth Meetings in Poland several times. In 1989 and 1995 the event was hosted by Wrocław, in 1999 – Warsaw, and in 2009 – Poznań.
The idea of organizing a large international meeting on one of the cities of Europe at the end of the year came from the founder of Taizé, brother Roger. The annual event aims to bring young Europeans closer together through joint prayers, discussion meetings in small groups, as well as workshops on religious, cultural and social issues.