Jordan: The bishops from West Asia have proposed a local youth conference for Catholic youth from Syria to Somalia, similar to the World Youth Conference. The Latin Patriarchs of Jerusalem have announced that the first youth conference in West Asia will be held in Jordan. The youth conference was held at the conference of Latin bishops in the Arab regions of Rome on February 17-20. Bishops from Egypt, Lebanon, Israel, and Jordan participated in the discussion. The bishops from these regions came to Rome as part of a plenary meeting.
In the meantime, they were meeting with Pope Francis and the heads of various denominations in the Vatican. While the Latino Patriarchs did not release further details about the Arab youth conference, it was stated that the issue would be discussed again at a conference of Latin bishops in Lebanon. The World Youth Conference, a gathering of Catholic youth, is held every three years. The first youth conference was inaugurated by Pope John Paul II in 1985.
Local youth conferences began in the last quarter of the nineties. The Asian Youth Conference to be held in India in 2021 was canceled due to inconvenience. Since 2006, the Jesuit Provinces of the Middle East have also held small youth conferences. 2022 The next World Youth Conference will be held in Lisbon, the capital of Portugal. The theme of the youth conference to be held in Portugal is ‘Mariam rose up in a hurry’.
