The Holy Year 2025 has two special events, in spring for adolescents and in summer for young people. Guanellian Don Salvatore Alletto, busy in Rome preparing these events, explains his efforts and hopes
Adon Salvatore Alletto we asked some questions about the preparation of the Jubilee of Adolescents and Youth and about the involvement of the young people who refer to the Guanellian pastoral realities, as Don Salvatore is totally committed to youth ministry. Every day he follows the numerous educational activities of the Oratory of San Giuseppe at the Parish of San Giuseppe al Trionfale in Rome and is also the director of the two schools, elementary and nursery, present in the parish. He is the contact of the Servants of Charity for the Guanellian Youth Movement in view of the Jubilee events reserved for the new generations, and as if this were not enough, on December 12, 2024 he was appointed by Cardinal Baldo Reina, Vicar General of His Holiness for the city of Rome, as the contact for youth ministry of the XXXII Pastoral Prefecture for the three-year period 2024-2027.
How is the Guanellian youth ministry preparing for the Jubilee initiatives?
The organizational machine has already started! The Guanellian communities of Rome (San Giuseppe al Trionfale and Casa San Giuseppe) are preparing to welcome adolescents from 24 to 27 April and young people from 28 July to 3 August. These are in fact the Jubilee events reserved for children and young people. However, since September 2024, local communities have been preparing, together with their animators, and reflecting on the central elements of the Jubilee: the pilgrimage, the door, forgiveness, service.
What will the program of these two important events include?
We will live the central moments of each Jubilee (the pilgrimage, the passage through the Holy Door, the forgiveness) together with all the young people of Italy and the entire world. In addition, both adolescents and young people will have the opportunity to meet Pope Francis. In this program, already defined by the Dicastery for the New Evangelization, we will include some events that will make us feel more and more like a Guanellian Family walking on the paths of hope.
Any little previews?
During the Jubilee of Guanellian adolescents in the month of April, there will be a testimony by Dario Reda, a young influencer and physical education teacher who uses social media to announce the Gospel and also in April during the Holy Mass closing the experience, Pope Francis will proclaim Blessed Carlo Acutis a saint. The adolescents will cross the Holy Door after a pilgrimage on foot to the Basilica of St. John Lateran. In July, however, the young people will have the opportunity to cross the threshold of the Holy Door of the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls crossing the center of the eternal city and will be able to breathe, in the esplanade of Tor Vergata, the unforgettable atmosphere experienced in the Jubilee of 2000, precisely because the vigil and the closing Mass with Pope Francis will take place there. During this celebration, Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati will be canonized. These are the dates to keep in mind.
Is Rome ready to welcome the many adolescents and young people for their Jubilee?
The Diocesan Office of Youth Ministry in Rome, together with the CEI and the Dicastery for the New Evangelization, has been working hard for some time now to make sure everything goes as well as possible. At the request of Pope Francis, many parishes will welcome adolescents and young people by opening the doors of their homes to them. We could almost say that the construction sites in the city, which are gradually being closed, are moving within ecclesial realities. But they are different construction sites, which will aim above all to prepare hearts for welcoming.
Is hope, as the underlying theme of the Jubilee and the experiences dedicated to young people, a theme close to them? Is there a risk that they might feel distant from it?
Every boy and every young person cultivates many hopes for his life, even if society and the adult world often tend to suppress them. Walking alongside young people means sharing these hopes, these desires and testifying to them that every choice in life and every dream makes sense only if lived with our eyes fixed on Jesus, Hope with a capital H!
Can we already think about the fruits of the Jubilee?
This year I think will be a year of sowing. I am sure that the path of preparation and the experiences lived will warm the hearts of the children and young people, who returning to the local realities will be able to infect their peers with their joy. We adults have the responsibility of not letting these fires go out, but rather of rekindling them, accompanying these new generations to the encounter with God.