The Courtyard of FrancescoPublicity banner for the meeting God, the Unknown

The Courtyard of Francesco

Assisi, 5-6 October 2012

on the theme

God, the Unknown

To mark the beginning of the Year of Faith, called for by Pope Benedict XVI, the Courtyard of the Gentiles is gathering together and giving form to those who wish to cry out that often silent and broken desire of many contemporary men and women who are looking for the "unknown God".  

As a Courtyard of the Gentiles it wishes to be a laboratory of dialogue where believers and atheists alike can purify their stances and behaviour and enter into respectful and meaningful encounter to consider God and faith.

The figure of Francesco, the Poverello di Assisi, sustains and animates this meeting, for he is loved and appreciated by believers and "non-believers" as one able to open up new ways of looking and seeing things, listening and discerning the dialogues that can surround the question of faith, from the cry of the poor to the issue of Creation, the appeal for peace and non-violence, the challenge of interreligious and intercultural dialogue, a new centrality of active contemplation, the cry of beauty against ugliness. 

The meeting will see a conversation between Cardinal Ravasi and the President of the Italian Republic transmitted on State television, as well as many other initiatives, including a Courtyard of the Children.

For further details, please see our Italian page.