He wants mostly young people to be there, but not only them. Pope Francis convened a major meeting on economic issues in Assisi for 2020.

Pope Francis invited young people, entrepreneurs, and economists to Assisi, next year, to promote together an economy that is more on a human scale. March 26 through 28, 2020 the Pope will meet in the city of St Francis especially the young people, and he will make a pact with them.

As he wrote in the public letter of invitation, Pope Francis wants “a process of global change. One in which not only believers but all men and women of good will […] can participate, inspired by an ideal of fraternity attentive above all to the poor and excluded.”

Assisi, on the map, is a very small town, a mere nothing in comparison to the big cities that deal with the great challenges of the economy and finance. Yet it is a nerve centre for the whole world, not only in spiritual terms, but also from a human, cultural, social, economic, and environmental point of view.

The passage of St. Francis, about 800 years ago, still has much to tell us: “There Francis stripped himself of all worldliness […] becoming poor with the poor, a brother to all.” This choice also generated a vision of the economy that is still very topical, especially bearing in mind the great imbalances that unfortunately characterize our planet and that exclude the littlest, those who are lonely and vulnerable.

Francis of Assisi, on the other hand, is the example par excellence of care for the weak, he is the most credible promoter of an integral ecology, which takes care of the good of all and is, therefore, inclusive.

That is why he chose Assisi. That is why the event is very likely to be a historical passage, in the footsteps of the great inter-religious meetings for peace, which since 1986 have brought together in the Umbrian town so many major world religious leaders.

Luigino Bruni, economist and international coordinator of Economy of Communion, is a member of the organizing committee. This is how he explains the meaning of this event on our website. “First, it is an initiative that the Pope wanted above all to make a pact for the future. Instead of summoning adults, scholars, and ‘seniors’ of the economic world, the Pope has summoned the young people who are receiving a training and are to change the world economy. The presence of entrepreneurs and change makers is also important because we all have to make the change together, but the Pope especially invites young people so that they are already, right now, prophets of an economy that cares for the person and the environment. These are his words. Another fundamental idea, in fact, is the relationship between ecology and economy, but also peace, and the unarmed economy.”

“The Economy of Francesco” will be three days of intense work; the expectation is an attendance of thousands of young people from all over the world. It is already possible to register for the event, not only as experts or as persons who are interested in the area of economics, but above all as people who care about the common good… In fact, there is no common good without a good economy…