Pope Francis meets Brother Alois of Taizé

On Thursday, 4 April, the Holy Father received the Prior of the Community of Taizé, Brother Alois, in a private audience.

Coinciding only a few days after the presentation of the post–synodal exhortation Christus Vivit, Brother Alois expressed to the Pope his gratitude for having been invited to participate in the Synod of Bishops on Youth last October. He emphasized the importance of the presence at the Synod of young people and fraternal delegates from other Christian traditions.

The audience was an opportunity for an exchange on the latest meetings of the Community within the framework of the "Pilgrimage of Trust on the Earth", in particular the recent meeting in Beirut organized with the Middle East Council of Churches and the Churches of Lebanon. The international youth meetings in Lviv, Ukraine (April 2018), Hong Kong (August 2018) and the European meeting in Madrid (December 2018) were also discussed. Brother Alois highlighted the upcoming meetings in Cape Town, South Africa (September 2019) and Wroclaw, Poland (December 2019).

Pope Francis encouraged Brother Alois to continue to welcome young people to Taizé and to seek unity as it is experienced and promoted by the Taizé community.

During his stay in Rome, Brother Alois also visited the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, where he met with Cardinal Kurt Koch.

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