The challenge of change is already in the title of the Congress. What needs to be changed?
On the one hand, change is before our eyes. We see the transformations of the geopolitical scenario, the drama of refugees from Africa, the great social problems that cross Asia and Europe. Then there are the challenges of technological innovations, from artificial intelligence to cryptocurrencies, and those of the global agenda, starting with the sustainable economy. On the other hand, there is our capacity for change. Each person who has the responsibility of guaranteeing the walls and structures in which we do education around the world experiences unprecedented challenges that are different but have many characteristics in common. That is why we have decided for the first time to make this great effort to come together physically to think about possible solutions, to give a Salesian answer to the questions that the contemporary world raises.
The economy clearly plays an important role in this change. How does the increase in prices and commodities impact your activities?
I have been the Economer General for 12 years, and I have never seen a situation like this. Liquidity problems emerge from several administrative centers: they used reserves to maintain the centers and pay salaries in the months of the pandemic and now, faced with the surge in all costs, they are forced to go into debt to carry on activities. This is also a topic of discussion: there are those who have responded well to change. Those who had already invested in previous years to become self-sufficient on the energy side, for example. But also schools that in some areas have rediscovered agriculture, using the lawns around the facilities to grow vegetables for canteens. As a congregation today we have the Generalate House, here in Rome, next to Termini Station, which is an open building site, because we want to reduce all waste of energy and polluting emissions as much as possible. Of course, it's hard for everyone: we recently organized an aid plan for the Tigray region, and when we prepared everything we saw that the amount with which we could usually send three trucks of aid was now barely enough for just one truck...
What are the major issues at the center of the congress?
We have been preparing for this event for two and a half years. We have chosen five crucial themes: sustainable economy, Salesian spirituality, artificial intelligence, communication of the future, and prevention of corruption. For us Salesians, the idea of preparing good citizens of the future is fundamental. But what does it mean to be good citizens today in a context where, for example, corruption is rampant? Or what does it entail to be good citizens with respect to the impact of our everyday choices on the environment? It is these kinds of questions that we discussed.
Have you found the answers?
Of course, there are no definitive answers to the big questions of our time. But we expect those who participated to go home with more motivation, optimism, and awareness. We discussed topics on which even I am almost illiterate, such as digital currencies or artificial intelligence. But in some countries these things are normal and we cannot not be prepared, we cannot say "this does not interest us": these are "new things" of the reality in which our young people will be immersed and we need to know them to prepare them for the world.
