SAN VALERO GROUP PRESENTS AN INTERNATIONAL TRAINING GUIDE FOR PILGRIMS IN THE FRAMEWORK OF THE EUROPEAN PROJECT EU2PILGRIMAGE

With the aim of promoting values such as cultural heritage, the environment and spirituality in our society, Grupo San Valero presented the results of the European project EU2PILGRIMAGE on Thursday, March 24 at its headquarters in the Plaza de Santa Cruz in Zaragoza.

The event also included the presentation of the training guide developed between the international partners of the project: Sv. Jozev Celje (Slovenia), FORUM KATOLIK (Vienna), Fundación Homo San Viator Don Teobaldo (Vicenza), G&L (Vienna) Promoción del Turismo and Grupo San Valero (Zaragoza). All of them dedicated to education in its broadest sense and training to promote cultural initiatives of great importance.

Two of the members of the project's Spanish expert committee took part in the event: Fernando Urdiola Guallar, head of Pastoral Care of the San Valero Group, and Francisco José Génova Omedes, head of Pastoral Care of the San Valero Center. The presentation was entitled "Cultural Heritage, Environment and Spirituality: Laudato Sí".

This initiative, organized by the Universidad San Jorge and the International Department of Fundación San Valero, was attended by Lourdes Diego Barrado, head of USJ Senior and Nieves Zubález Marco, director of the International Area of the Group and director of the project in Spain.

Francisco José Génova, in his words, took up the call of Pope Francis to "unite the entire human family in the search for sustainable and integral development", pointing out that this is only possible through the construction of a true dialogue on the future of humanity and the relationship with nature, through a new universal solidarity.

In the spirit of Pope Francis' encyclical, Christians can offer the Way of St. James to all human beings as an experience that integrates the human with the environment. It is a proposal for all men and women of good will, for all those who seek the yearnings of their hearts. The Way of St. James is interpreted as a process of integration of humanity in a nature that becomes a path of personal, community and spiritual growth. All this gives us a true incarnated experience of integral ecology.

Fernando Urdiola has pointed out to us that 1,200 years of history leave their mark on what he has been defining the Way of St. James as "a highway of knowledge". Because this is precisely what the Jacobean route implicitly proposes. To discover oneself and to discover oneself in relation to others, to the land one walks on, and to God and transcendence.

The christian pilgrimage, which takes up a millenary legacy, is also practiced by other cultures and religions, in the light of Laudato Si. It becomes, therefore, an unparalleled stage and a disseminating entity of the great cultural and artistic movements that arose in Europe: the Romanesque, the Gothic cathedrals, the medieval lyrics of the cantigas or the epic of the songs of deeds. And it is an incomparable demonstration of human solidarity. Heritage and spirituality make the pilgrimage an authentic search for meaning and, for that very reason, it continues to be a relevant option in a post-Covid-19 world.

The speaker analyzed three dimensions from this encyclical that teaches us to live in the dynamism of integral ecology: the profound human and spiritual sense of the Camino, the conservation of the heritage it has generated, and its impact in relation to all creation.

The event was once again in the hands of the director of the International Area of FSV, Nieves Zubález, who, due to the suitability of her subject matter, shared with the audience another European initiative for the development of innovation, the FORM-ARTE+ project. This project aims to test and validate a new approach to learning in vocational training based on European cultural heritage. It also focuses on the Way of St. James, the first cultural route in Europe and an excellent teaching resource, which combines art, culture and links it with the transversal knowledge necessary for today's society, focusing on aspects such as the environment, digitization and social values such as the fight against climate change.

+ Info: internacional@gruposanvalero.es

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