Invitation from the Churches of Turin

Dear Brother Alois,

We entrust to a group of young people from Turin, who are taking part in the European meeting in Basel, this message for you and for the brothers of your community.

The ecumenical reality of Turin and the surrounding region has deep roots and is unique in Italy. Alongside the Catholic Church there is the historical presence of the Waldensian Church, to which was added in subsequent eras the Baptist Church, the Lutheran Church, the Seventh Day Adventist Church and other more recent evangelical communities. As a result of international migrations, other communities belonging to different Orthodox Churches later became present: the Coptic Church, the Ethiopian Church, The Greek Orthodox Church of the Patriarchate of Constantinople, the Romanian Orthodox Church and the Russian Orthodox Church.

In the early 1960s the first contacts and study meetings between priests and pastors took place, followed in the 1970s by ecumenical initiatives proposed mainly by the Secretariat for Ecumenical Activities. From the 1990s to the present day, the Catholic and Protestant Ecumenical Commissions and the Orthodox Communities prepare and lead together the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.

At this time, our city is experiencing deep wounds because of new forms of poverty such as the lack of work, the lack of dignity for the new migrants, and the increasing inequalities. Our Churches are committed to working on these problems, with different ways, means and gifts.

But the young people challenge us.

They are animated, as you certainly experience on the hill of Taizé, by the desire to meet one another and to live together times of fraternity and prayer. And we, representatives of the Churches of Turin, encouraged together by their desire, which is also ours and our Church communities, dare to hope to welcome at the end of 2018, or at another future date, young people from throughout the continent who wish to come together for a European meeting organized by your community in our city.

For our young people, for our communities and for our Churches, it would be an important occasion to live to the full the values of the Gospel and in particular, as Brother Roger emphasized so well, joy, simplicity and mercy.

With our brotherly regards, in prayer,