EU Bishops launch “Youth Net” to empower young Catholics

By Joseph Tulloch

The Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences of the European Union, COMECE, has launched a “Youth Net” to promote participation of young Catholics in EU politics.

Delegates from the Catholic Dioceses of the European Union, aged between 18 and 35, will be chosen to serve for two years, and be consulted by COMECE on a variety of policy issues.

“This new consultative body,” said Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich, President of COMECE, “will promote the concrete participation of young European Catholics in shaping EU policies.”

The establishment of the Youth Net, on October 5th, followed on the heels of two COMECE Catholic Youth Conventions on the Future of Europe, in June 2021 and June 2022. In the coming months, members of the network will “reflect on the promotion of EU common values, such as democracy and fundamental rights”, presenting their findings to the COMECE assembly in 2023. 

The EU Bishops said that they hope these young delegates will bring the youth perspective to all aspects of their EU policymaking, as well as “young people’s diverse sensitivity on current political and social challenges.”

Cardinal Hollerich invited the delegates to “make the Youth Net a place of true fraternity, an example of how we can be brothers and sisters, aware of our unique cultural identities, truly united in diversity”.