At the initiative of the Church of Marseille and as part of the broader Mediterranean process launched in 2020 with the Bari meeting, 200 young people of all faiths and religions, actively engaged in their countries’ civil society, will set sail from March 1 to October 26, 2025.
Delphine Allaire – Vatican city
Navigate the momentum of the Mediterranean Encounters in the Mare Nostrum. Literally and figuratively, this will be the mission entrusted to the “Bel Espoir,” a three-masted schooner designed as a peace training ship, which will sail along the five coasts during the jubilee year. A fraternity in action during this year in which the Pope invites everyone to be “pilgrims of hope.” This training ship will educate young people aged 20 to 35 in the art of building ties between cultures and religions in this Mediterranean space, a reflection of the crises and hopes of our time, in order to better understand its heritage and address educational, economic, and migratory challenges.
The Port as a Place of Welcome and Faith
The eight-month journey is expected to begin in Barcelona, on the western Mediterranean, heading toward the Moroccan coast. The crew will make stops in Algerian, Tunisian, and Sicilian ports before moving eastward through Malta and Cyprus, reaching Lebanon and Turkey. They will return to Italy via the Aegean and Adriatic Seas, eventually linking Naples to its sister city, Marseille.
Following in the footsteps of countless Mediterranean pilgrims, such as St. Paul or St. Mary Magdalene, the ship will navigate in the spirit of St. Francis of Assisi, seeking peace. In every departure city, a colloquium will delve into major themes like “the dialogue of cultures and religions,” “youth education,” and “the role of women in society,” all pathways in the service of peace.
Toward a Mediterranean Ecclesial Conference
Following the Marseille edition of the Mediterranean Encounters in 2023, an upcoming edition dedicated to young people will be held in Tirana, the capital of Albania, from September 15 to 22, 2024. Its exceptional format in 2025, with the odyssey of the Bel Espoir, will accompany the life of this great Mediterranean network envisioned by the Pope, whose responsibility has been entrusted to Cardinal Jean-Marc Aveline since last April. Inspired by REPAM, the Pan-Amazonian Ecclesial Network of the nine countries encompassing the planet’s green lung, a Mediterranean Ecclesial Conference could progressively take shape—an idea proposed by Pope Francis at the conclusion of the Marseille Encounters on September 21, 2023.
Applications are already arriving, open until December 31, 2024. Numerous young people from the different shores of the Mediterranean are mobilizing to apply and embark on one of the expedition’s sessions.
To encourage participation, the MED25 – Le Bel Espoir team has also launched a video, inviting widespread sharing.
In the context of the “Mediterranean Encounters 2025,” the Higher Institute of Catechetical Pastoral (ISPC) of the ICP plays a central role by offering tools to analyze and understand the challenges of peace and dialogue between cultures. The ISPC accompanies and trains students in practical theology, where every human encounter is a bridge to peace. These international initiatives thus align with the mission of the ISPC, encouraging young people to build intercultural and interreligious bonds in service of a common future.
On its website, the ISPC announced its participation in the MED25 – Le Bel Espoir project, emphasizing that: “Weapons remain unsilenced, brothers continue to hate, and natural disasters are compounded by the calamity of war, which destroys human dignity, erases culture, and devours the world’s wealth, offering the illusion of reconstruction while generating undue profits.
Amid these scenarios of death and destruction, a cry arises from wounded humanity, which refuses to bow to the idol of short-term gain and dares to seek peace, opening glimpses of hope for a possible future.”
In this spirit, 200 young people of all nationalities, cultures, and religions, hailing from the Mediterranean’s five shores (North Africa, the Middle East, the Black and Aegean Seas, the Balkans, and Europe), will gather between March and October 2025 to traverse the Mediterranean, united by their shared desire for a future filled with hope and life. They will share their dream for the future with the world: peace!
Modalities of the 2025 Mediterranean Meetings
This initiative follows the path of previous meetings in Bari (2020), Florence (2022), Marseille (2023), and Tirana (2024), serving as a preparatory step toward a Mediterranean Ecclesial Conference. The youth will share the experience of a peace-building school aboard the ship, fostering reciprocity and openness. Together, they will experience the diversity that makes us unique yet never isolated or separated from one another.
Departure Ports, Stops, and Thematic Colloquia
Launched by the Archdiocese of Marseille, in collaboration with the associations Mar Yam and Bel Espoir, the initiative includes eight months of sailing with eight departure ports (Barcelona, Palermo, Valletta, Nicosia, Istanbul, Durrës, Ravenna, Naples), over 30 stops (Tetouan, Bizerte, Heraklion, Jounieh, Athens, Trieste, Bari…), and a final destination in Marseille. Each departure port will host thematic colloquia, and Mediterranean festivals will take place during the stops.
The colloquia will address relevant Mediterranean issues, such as: Dialogue of Cultures (Barcelona); Education and Society (Palermo); Women in the Mediterranean (Valletta); Interfaith Dialogue (Nicosia); Environment and Development (Istanbul); Migration Challenges (Durrës); Ecumenical Dialogue (Ravenna) and Peacebuilding (Naples).
A Ship for Peace: Le Bel Espoir II
The Bel Espoir II, which will accommodate the young people during the voyage, is a 29-meter, three-masted schooner, built in 1944 in Denmark to transport livestock between Copenhagen and Hamburg. After several restorations, it is now ready to sail in the Mediterranean and open new routes of hope.
The initiative’s main goal is to establish connections between Mediterranean communities and religious groups, building “virtual bridges” of fraternity and collaboration across the five shores.
When people recognize one another as brothers and sisters, inspired by a free faith, they can walk together to create a present filled with peace. Only then can the dream of peace carried by Mediterranean youth become a reality—a hymn to Life and Beauty.
Bon voyage with this “beautiful hope”!
