Ateneo students across PH joining virtual encounter with Pope Francis

Students from all five Ateneo universities will represent the Philippines in a synodal encounter between Pope Francis and university students from across Asia Pacific.

The Building Bridges Across Asia Pacific event will see students from across Asia Pacific meet and dialogue with Pope Francis on Thursday, 20 June 2024.

Prior to the encounter with the Pope, select students from all five Ateneo universities in the Philippines -- Manila, Naga, Davao, Zamboanga, and Cagayan de Oro -- have been meeting and engaging in spiritual conversations around shared social concerns. These students will be able to meet with the Pope via Zoom, and their representatives will be able to speak directly with the Holy Father on their behalf via Zoom.

Students from Indonesia, Timor-Leste, Papua New Guinea, Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines, Australia, Japan, South Korea, and more will be participating. Ateneo de Manila University, through the Office of the President and the Office of University Partnerships and Internationalization, has been chosen as one of six university partners from Asia Pacific for the event.

The encounter is part of the Building Bridges Initiative of the Loyola University Chicago (LUC), in collaboration with the Pontifical Commission for Latin America at the Holy See.

The encounter will be livestreamed beginning at 8 pm Philippine time at www.luc.edu/buildingbridges/acrossasiapacific.

"Through the initiative, we facilitate the creation of student groups across large geographic regions, accompany those students as they engage in listening, dialogue, and discernment around shared social concerns, and then invite student representatives of those groups to a live- streamed dialogue with Pope Francis where they can share with him their group’s experiences and hopes," according to LUC.

The Across Asia Pacific event is the fourth such event organized by the BBI since February 2022. For more information, visit https://www.luc.edu/buildingbridges/.