Cardinal Pizzaballa to Meet Mediterranean Youth at Peace Gathering in Southern Italy

Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, is scheduled to meet young people from across the Mediterranean during the 11th edition of the Carta di Leuca, an international gathering focused on dialogue, fraternity, and peace.

The five-day event, being held from August 10 to 14 in Santa Maria di Leuca, in Italy's southern Puglia region, brings together young adults from different cultures and religious backgrounds under the theme, “A Mediterranean of Peace for a World at Peace, Beauty, Art and Peace.”

According to Vatican News, Cardinal Pizzaballa is scheduled to arrive in the region on August 13. He will visit Cardinal Panico Hospital and the Casa di Betania hospice in Tricase, where he is also expected to celebrate Mass, before meeting participants of the Carta di Leuca as they arrive at the Basilica of Santa Maria de Finibus Terrae.

The cardinal will later travel to Alessano to pray at the tomb of Venerable Don Tonino Bello, the former Bishop of Molfetta-Ruvo-Giovinazzo-Terlizzi, who made peace, nonviolence, and solidarity with the poor central to his ministry.

Young participants will hold a prayer vigil at Don Tonino Bello's tomb during the night of August 13-14 before beginning a pilgrimage to the sanctuary in Leuca. Cardinal Pizzaballa is scheduled to preside over the concluding Mass on August 14 in the square outside the Basilica of Santa Maria de Finibus Terrae.

The gathering, which began in 2016, seeks to bring together young people from different shores of the Mediterranean and encourage concrete commitments to peace. Participants this year include young people from Cyprus and Jerusalem, as well as Italians involved in Caritas and other partner organizations. The event is open to those aged 18 to 35.

The first three days feature workshops on wounded relationships, the value of differences, welcoming others, healing memories, and building hope. Participants will also meet local communities and walk the final section of the Via Francigena toward the sanctuary, traditionally regarded as a meeting point between East and West.

The discussions will contribute to the Carta di Leuca 2026, a document of commitments to peace that will be signed and proclaimed at the end of the gathering.

The initiative draws inspiration from Cardinal Pizzaballa's pastoral letter, They Returned to Jerusalem with Great Joy, and follows the spiritual legacy of Don Tonino Bello, whose ministry emphasized peace, nonviolence, and solidarity with people living on the margins.

The organizers hope the encounter will enable young people from across the Mediterranean to move beyond dialogue toward concrete commitments to reconciliation and peace in a region marked by conflict and division.