First Lady Candida Montilla had represented President Danilo Medina at the inauguration of Pope Francisco on 19 March 2013. This past week she was back at the Vatican City to meet with Pope Francisco and for the second time extend to him an invitation to visit the Dominican Republic. She met with the Pope on Saturday, 12 May 2018. This 2018, her meeting with the Pope was a time to discuss educational programs to benefit young people.
As reported, she spoke with the Pope for 20 minutes at the Palazzo San Callisto in the Vatican City on occasion of her participation in a Scholas Ocurrentes activity. The First Lady traveled to Italy after accepting an invitation from Pope Francisco to participate in the Scholas event that gathered around 100 youths from different countries.
During the activity at the Palazzo San Callisto, the Pope met a new group of trainers and students who are participating in a new project, concluded a 5-day Scholas Occurrentes meeting of school children from 10 countries and inaugurated three new centers of the foundation in Argentina, Mozambique and Colombia through video links.
The Scholas Occurrentes, the Latin for “schools that meet “, is an educational project launched by Pope Francis in Argentina 2001, when he was Archbishop of Buenos Jorge Mario Bergoglio, to encourage social integration and the culture of encounter through sports, arts and technology. As Pope, he made it into a foundation in 2013. Today it is present in 190 countries.
Pope Francisco personally gifted the First Lady with a replica of the artistic mosaic by Albano Poli with the image of the Virgen de la Altagracia, protector of the Dominican people, that is located in the gardens of the Vatican two years since.
The First Lady expressed her wish that the Dominican Republic may also host the Scholas Ocurrentes program as a contribution to making young people better citizens. She also shared with Pope Francisco initiatives of the First lady Office for children, women, senior adults, as well as to present teenage pregnancy, autism, Down syndrome and cerebral paralysis.
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Metro RD
14 May 2018
