Vatican City, Apr 9, 2011 / 16:14 pm
After the first official dialogue session with non-believers in Paris, Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi and the Pontifical Council for Culture plan to approach future meetings with a greater emphasis on reaching out to young people.
The forum is called the "Courtyard of the Gentiles," and it seeks to engage adults and youth alike in contemplating spirituality through discussion on subjects like culture, philosophy and politics. It creates a "courtyard" like that outside the temple in ancient Jerusalem, which was reserved for debates between Jews and non-Jews.
The Vatican-sponsored event took place in Paris, France from March 24-25. It was divided into encounters that involved high society, intellectuals and politicians, and a final encounter with the city's youth at the Cathedral of Notre Dame.
It was during the encounter at Notre Dame, with a jovial atmosphere in the outer square and a prayer service going on inside led by the ecumenical Taize community, that the cardinal was struck by the interest of non-Catholics in the prayer.
In a pre-recorded video message aired earlier in the square, Pope Benedict XVI had asked curious non-believers to take the initiative to enter the cathedral and see what was going on inside. He even asked them to pray in their own way.