Over 100 African Youths to Participate in Planned Third Laudato Si’ Assembly in Ghana Targeting Young People

“This assembly offers an opportunity to amplify those efforts and position young people as leaders in the fight for ecological justice,” the Coordinator of CYNESA in Ghana said.

The Assembly will serve as a platform to evaluate Laudato Si’s impact over the past decade, share experiences and best practices, and renew commitment to climate action, she added.

“We also intend to empower the young people through the distinguished individuals who will be sharing their knowledge and experiences with us… to be encouraged to take more action on climate change and ecological justice,” she said.

Reflecting on the theme of the assembly that she said relates to that of the ongoing Catholic Church’s 2025 Jubilee Year, which the late Pope Francis officially launched on the Eve of 2024 Christmas with the opening of the Holy Door of St. Peter's Basilica of Rome, “Pilgrims of Hope”, Ms. Ziniel said that the 10year-old Encyclical Letter has fostered the activities of CYNESA.

“Laudato Si’ has been in existence for a decade now and has been a dependable companion to CYNESA and the manual for our many activities and projects. The celebration is in line with Pope Francis declaring this year a jubilee year with the theme ‘Pilgrims of Hope,’” she said.

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The Coordinator of CYNESA went on to explain, “As pilgrims, we must journey together in hope for our environment, looking at the devise destruction worldwide that our Common Home has endured and continues to endure. The only way we can be good pilgrims is when we journey together in Hope for our environment.”

The youth-led network has leveraged social media to mobilize participants and raise awareness, with what Ms. Ziniel called an “overwhelming” response from young people eager to join the movement.

The event is to include practical workshops and a visit to an illegal mining (galamsey) site, where participants are to witness firsthand environmental devastation.

“We will have the young people of the community join us in a march to register our displeasure and to also show solidarity with the community and Mother Earth and send forth the message that galamsey must stop,” the Coordinator of CYNESA in Ghana, the host of the Third Laudato Si’ Youth Assembly, told ACI Africa.

Key dignitaries expected at the Assembly include members of the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar (SECAM), Catholic Bishops and Clergy, the Jesuit Superior for North-West Africa, the National Coordinator of the National Alternative Employment and Livelihood Programme (NAELP), as well as partners like the Catholic Agency for Overseas Development (CAFOD) and the World Food Program (WWF).

In the May 23 interview, Ms. Ziniel told ACI Africa that the Catholic Church in Ghana is offering “full support, with members of the Clergy set to accompany participants spiritually throughout the Assembly.”

“⁠Accra is eagerly awaiting their arrival, as pilgrims journeying together in hope for our environment. They should carry with them a heart of prayer, care, and hope for a wonderful experience in Ghana and a great Assembly,” she said.

“The future is now, and together we can rewrite a better climate and environment story,” the CYNESA official said about the 30 May to 1 June event that is to culminate in the drafting of a Youth of Faith position paper, a declaration on the state of environmental action a decade after the Encyclical Letter, Laudato Si’, and the Paris Agreement, the “legally binding international treaty on climate change that 196 Parties adopted at the UN Climate Change Conference (COP21) in France’s capital city, Paris, on 12 December 2015. It entered into force on 4 November 2016.

Jude Atemanke is a Cameroonian journalist with a passion for Catholic Church communication. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism and Mass Communication from the University of Buea in Cameroon. Currently, Jude serves as a journalist for ACI Africa.