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TAIZÉ

Annual message

Letter 2025: Hope beyond all hope

Listening to young people in Taizé and elsewhere[1], many of whom are confronted with harsh realities in their everyday life, I ask myself how they find the strength to carry on. The question becomes even more pressing when they are living in war zones. Where do their resilience and perseverance in seemingly impossible situations come from? It became clear to me, as I listened, that trust in (...)

25 December 2024
Letter 2024 : Journeying Together

During the past 18 months, our Taizé Community has been on an adventure of faith. We were preparing a “Gathering of the People of God” called “Together” [1] with partners from movements, communities and organisations from many Christian Churches. An intuition expressed by Brother Alois [2] at the opening of the Synod on Synodality in the Catholic Church, the preparation of “Together” led us to (...)

26 December 2023
2023 Inner Life and Solidarity

Where can we find the source of a universal brother- and sisterhood, both at the heart of our human family and with the whole of creation? Different answers to this question have developed over time in the spiritual traditions of the peoples of the earth. For Christians, the time has come to reach a deeper understanding of their faith. Not to put themselves forward or to claim they have (...)

26 December 2022
2022 Becoming Creators of Unity

Helping unity to grow, creating bonds between people: this is one of the greatest challenges of our time. The present day is characterized by contradictory developments.On the one hand, humanity is becoming more and more aware howinterconnected and linked it is to the whole of creation. The pandemic has madeus realize once again that we are one human family; we undergo certainhardships all (...)

25 December 2021
2021 Hoping in Season and out of Season

A message for 2021Booklet as PDF A message for 2021 Humanity is able to move forward because of the multitudes of women and men who give themselves without counting the cost, even in times of upheaval and uncertainty. Over these last few months, many young people have shared with us their worries about the future: what hope can give us direction; what things can we trust and rely on when (...)

21 December 2020
2020 Always on the Move, Never Uprooted

“Proposals 2020”PDF format: In September, we held a new stage of our “pilgrimage of trust on earth” in the city of Cape Town. South Africa is a great and beautiful country; 25 years ago, it showed the world the power of the protest against apartheid and of a non-violent transition, even though today the country is still scarred by the deep divisions between ethnic groups. In this context, the (...)

26 December 2019
2019 Let us not forget hospitality!

Download in pdf format Do not forget to show hospitality, for by so doing some people have welcomed angels without knowing it. (Hebrews 13:2) The pilgrimage of trust, an uninterrupted succession of meetings of young adults which began in Taizé several decades ago, continues today on all the continents. In each of these gatherings, one of the most memorable experiences is hospitality, both for (...)

24 March 2019
2018 Inexhaustible Joy

A young woman who was very ill said to me last year, “I love life.” I remain deeply moved by the inner joy that filled her, in spite of the narrow limits imposed by her illness. I was touched not only by her words, but by the beautiful expression on her face. And what can we say about the joy of children? Recently I saw some children in Africa whose presence, even in refugee camps where so many (...)

26 December 2017
2017 Together, Opening Paths of Hope

At the beginning of September 2016, a stage in the pilgrimage of trust brought together 7500 young Africans in Cotonou, Benin. (1) The theme of this gathering will continue to inspire us throughout the year 2017: together—not alone, but supported by one another—we can open paths of hope—in ourselves, around us and for the human family. One of the questions asked at Cotonou was this: “To nourish (...)

26 December 2016
2016 The Courage of Mercy

Throughout the year 2015, at Taizé, we looked for ways to get involved in new solidarities; these are so urgent today. Across the earth, new forms of distress — migratory, ecological and social — are a challenge for believers of different religions and for non-believers alike. Armed violence is wreaking havoc in the name of inhuman ideologies. While remaining clear-headed, we shall continue our (...)

26 December 2015
2015 Four proposals

2015 Four proposals in order to be “salt of the earth”First proposal: Sharing with those around us a zest for life “You are the salt of the earth. But if salt loses its flavour, how can it be made salty again?” (Matthew 5:13) To be salt of the earth is a gift from God that we want to welcome with joy. By being salt of the earth, we can communicate a zest for life. And when we make life beautiful (...)

26 December 2014
2014 Four Proposals

2014 Four Proposals for “seeking visible communion among all who love Christ”Christ extended his friendship to all, without rejecting anyone. Those who love Christ all across the earth form, in his steps, a large community of friendship. This is called communion. For this reason, they have a contribution to make in healing the wounds of humanity: without wanting to impose themselves, they can promote a globalization of solidarity which excludes no people and no single person. How can each (...)

26 December 2013
2013 Four Proposals

2013 Four Proposals to Uncover the Wellsprings of Trust in GodFirst Proposal - Talk together about our faith journey What is the meaning of our lives? How do we deal with suffering and death? Where do we find life-giving joy? These are questions that every generation and every person is called upon to answer. The answers cannot be contained in ready-made formulas. “And if God exists...?” The question of God has not vanished from the horizon, but the way it is asked has changed radically. The (...)

18 February 2013
2012-15 Towards a New Solidarity

Letter 2012-2015 Click the image to download or view

26 December 2011
2011 Letter from Chile

13 December 2010
2010 Letter from China

English Filipino Liham mula sa Ttsina Cebuano Sulat gikan sa Ttsina

12 December 2009
2009 Letter from Kenya

From the 26th to the 30th of November 2008, 7000 young people from different regions of Kenya as well as from other African countries and other continents met together in Nairobi. It was the second international meeting organized in Africa by the Taizé Community, after one in Johannesburg, South Africa, in 1995. This stage in the “pilgrimage of trust on earth” was hosted by more than eighty parishes of the different Churches of Nairobi. Its aim was to help create more fraternal relationships, (...)

15 December 2008
2007 Letter to those who want to follow Christ

In the Gospel we hear Jesus call, “Follow me!” Can we respond to him by a lifelong commitment? In all of us there is the desire for future happiness. But we can have the impression that we are conditioned by so many limits that at times we fall prey to discouragement. And yet God is present: “The Kingdom of God is at hand!” (Mark 1:15). We become aware of God’s presence when we face the situations of our life just as they are, in order to create on the basis of what is. No one would want to get (...)

7 December 2007
2008 Letter from Cochabamba

Prepared for months with the parishes and families of the city and its surroundings, a Latin American young adult meeting was held in Cochabamba, Bolivia, from October 10-14, 2007. It brought together 7000 participants from the different regions of Bolivia, from all the countries of Latin America and from several European countries. This “Letter from Cochabamba” for the year 2008 was first distributed during the European meeting in Geneva at the end of December 2007. Reconciliation, a fire (...)

7 December 2007
2007 Letter from Kolkata

Thirty years ago, Brother Roger spent some time in Kolkata (Calcutta) with brothers and young people from different continents, living in a poor district and taking part in Mother Teresa’s work with abandoned children and the dying. He brought back the Letter to the People of God, made public during a young adult meeting at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. Later on, he wrote several messages and three books with Mother Teresa. This presence in 1976 was the seed of a lasting relationship of (...)

10 December 2006
2006 Brother Roger’s unfinished letter

The afternoon of the day he died, August 16th, Brother Roger called one of the brothers and said to him, “Note down these words carefully!” There was a long silence while he attempted to formulate his thinking. Then he began, “To the extent that our community creates possibilities in the human family to widen…” And he stopped there, too exhausted to finish his phrase. These words reflect the passion that inspired him, even in his old age. What did he mean by “widen”? He probably wanted to say: do (...)

12 December 2005
2005 A future of peace

This letter, written by Brother Roger of Taizé and translated into 55 different languages (including 24 from Asia), was made public during the young adult European meeting in Lisbon. It will be used for reflection throughout the year 2005 during the weekly meetings in Taizé as well as those held elsewhere, in Europe or on other continents.“God has plans for a future of peace for you, not of misfortune; God wants to give you a future and a hope.” [34] Today, a great many people are longing for a (...)

13 December 2004