ICP commits to MED 25

On its website, the ISPC announced that it was joining the MED 25 – Le Bel Espoir project., recalling that "the weapons do not fall silent, the brothers do not cease to hate each other, to the natural calamities is added the calamity of war which destroys human dignity, erases culture and devours the riches of the world, giving the illusion of a possible reconstruction and bringing undue profits.

Amidst these scenarios of death and destruction, there rises the cry of a wounded humanity that does not surrender to the short-sighted idol of profit on the rubble, but dares peace, opening glimmers of hope for a future that is still possible.

In this spirit, two hundred young people of all nationalities, cultures and religions, from the five shores of the Mediterranean (North Africa, Middle East, Black Sea and Aegean Sea, Balkans and Europe) will meet from March to October 2025 to crisscross the waters of the Mediterranean, united by the one great desire for a future full of hope and life. They will make their dream for the future known to the whole world: peace !

This will be the modality of the Mediterranean Meetings 2025. It is part of the path traced by the meetings of Bari (2020), Florence (2022), Marseille (2023) and Tirana (2024). A new preparatory step in view of an Ecclesial Conference of the Mediterranean. The young people will share the experience of a navigation-school of peace, aware that peace is built in a reciprocity eager to welcome. Together, they will make the experience of diversity that makes each of us unique, but never isolated and separate from the other.

Ports of departure, stopovers and thematic conferences

The initiative launched by theArchdiocese of Marseille, in collaboration with the association Mar Yam And Beautiful Hope, plans eight months of sailing with eight ports of departure (Barcelona, Palermo, Valletta, Nicosia, Istanbul, Durres, Ravenna, Naples), around thirty stopovers (Tetouan, Bizerte, Heraklion, Jounieh, Athens, Trieste, Bari, etc.) and a port of arrival (Marseille); animation teams on land and at sea ; eight thematic conferences in the ports of departure and Mediterranean festivals during stopovers.

The conferences will address important themes concerning the Mediterranean : dialogue of cultures (Barcelona); education and society (Palermo); women in the Mediterranean (Valletta); interreligious dialogue (Nicosia); environment and development (Istanbul); migration challenges (Durrës); ecumenical dialogue (Ravenna); peace to be built (Naples).

A unique opportunity for young people to meet, get to know each other and engage in dialogue, but above all for local civil and religious communities who have the responsibility of building and promoting peace.

The Bel Espoir II: a ship for peace

The Bel Espoir II, which will host the young people during the navigation, is a three-masted schooner of 29 m, with a draft of 2.80 m. It was built in 1944 in Denmark, for the transport of livestock between Copenhagen and Hamburg. After several restorations, it is now ready to sail in the Mediterranean and to trace new routes of hope.

In fact, the main objective of this initiative is to to create twinning arrangements between the peoples and religious families of the Mediterranean, in order to build “virtual bridges”, links of fraternity and concrete collaboration between the five banks.

When men discover themselves to be brothers, animated by a free faith, they can walk together to build a present of peace.Only then will the dream of peace that the young people of the Mediterranean carry will become a reality full of Beauty and a hymn to Life.

Have a good trip with this “beautiful hope”!”