On Saturday, December 13, 2025, from 1 to 3 p.m. (Rome time), more than one hundred and fifty young people and those accompanying them gathered virtually at the IV International Meeting of FI Youth, held under the theme “Let’s Go FI Youth”. It was a meeting that crossed borders, languages and cultures, and made visible a shared certainty: the charism of St. Candida Maria de Jesus is very much alive, creative and committed in the young heart of the Church.
Young people from the five Provinces and the Delegation of Mozambique, accompanied by Daughters of Jesus and lay people, participated in an atmosphere of family, closeness and deep joy.
The meeting was prepared and facilitated by the international youth pastoral team together with young people from the different provinces.
A truly universal encounter
From East Asia to Andean America and Brazil-Caribbean, from Europe to the Indian-Pacific and Mozambique, the meeting was a true mosaic of faces, accents and experiences. Thanks to the translation service in Spanish, English, Portuguese and Chinese, each young person was able to feel at home and part of the same universal community.
The playful welcome, the presentation by provinces and the warm words of our General Councilor, Sr. Iris Altagracia Gonzales, gave way to an appreciative review of the history of previous international meetings, making this fourth meeting a special milestone: held at the end of the Jubilee Year, after the first face-to-face meeting in Rome a few months earlier, and marked by the explicit desire to take another step forward as FI Youth.
Praying, listening and dreaming together
We experienced a profound moment of prayer, through simple symbols – the Jubilee cross, the light, Mary, the figure of Mother Candida – and the Word of God (Lk 10:1-9), the young people were invited to allow themselves to be sent to live and carry out the mission in the way of Jesus: “Go, I am sending you”.
In a particularly meaningful gesture, each participant held up in front of the camera the FI Youth logo, with his or her name and a word that resonated in his or her heart. A simple sign of belonging, identity and shared mission.
The testimonies of young people from every province put words and faces to the hope lived and spread during this Jubilee Year: pilgrimages, daily service, the route of M. Candida in Spain and Rome, transforming encounters, experiences of faith lived in the ordinary and the extraordinary. Candida in Spain and Rome, transforming encounters, experiences of faith lived in the ordinary and the extraordinary. Diverse stories, united by the same thread: hope multiplies when it is shared.
Young protagonists, in common discernment
In the language groups, the young people discussed three main questions in depth:
- what traits of the FI Youth identity they feel called to live more strongly today;
- how to get involved in the mission together, from the cries of the world;
- and what dreams they have for the future of Jóvenes FI.
In the groups, the young people agreed that they feel called to live an identity centered on Jesus, marked by joy, simplicity, closeness and service, from a strong sense of fraternity and universality. They expressed the desire to walk together in the same mission, open to the different realities, emphasizing catechesis, the accompaniment of young people to young people, the closeness to those who live without meaning in life and the commitment to social reality from a critical and transforming point of view. As a shared dream, they long for more and more FI Youth, in love with Jesus, capable of being a space of welcome, hope and missionary sending, in the style of St. Candida Maria de Jesus.
“Come on, FI Youth” is not just a slogan, it’s a path.
The meeting culminated with the message and missionary sending of Graciela Francovig, Superior General of the Daughters of Jesus, who thanked Teresa Li FI and M. Carmen Jimenez FI, for their passionate and creative dedication to this service of promoting international youth ministry in the previous six years; and welcomed Iris Altagracia Gonzalez FI, general councilor and in charge of the youth field as the new coordinator of this field. In his message of sending, close and deeply hopeful, he encouraged the young people to keep their eyes and hearts on Jesus, true source of meaning and happiness; not to be satisfied with a superficial life, but to aspire to the great, to holiness lived in everyday life, to be a response to the needs of our world, to continue walking with audacity, creative fidelity and open heart, in the style of Mother Candida. Entrusting them to Mary, Virgin of hope, he sent them to walk with joy and to spread to the world the enthusiasm and witness of a young and committed faith. Her sending also summoned us for the next meeting.
Thus, this IV International Encounter was not a point of arrival, but an impulse. It was a “vamos” that invites us to move forward with more youth protagonism, more shared identity and more missionary commitment. A “vamos” that dreams of young people capable of bringing hope to the world, wherever they live, study, work or serve.
Today, December 27, is also the culmination of the “Hope Project” which, since the beginning of this Jubilee Year, “Pilgrims of Hope”, has been encouraging and helping all of us, young and old, Daughters of Jesus and lay people, every 27th of the month, to explore what it means to put the virtue of hope into action and at the service of others, counting on FI Youth from all over the world.
A closing that is sending: we keep on walking
If you are young and feel the desire to live your faith with others with a joyful, dynamic, committed identity, with Jesus at the center; if you want to grow together, want to serve those who need it most and seek God’s will together, you can be part of FI Youth.
“Come on, Young FI, there is a way and we must go on…”
