Young protagonists in Lebanon with the Franciscans | Saint Francis

Franciscanism

The “Tausport project – St. Francis and the Sultan”

And Youth Development Center centered on sport, art and culture: it was inaugurated by the Franciscans in the difficult reality of Tripoli, one of the cities in the greatest crisis in Lebanon.

SAINT FRANCIS AND THE SULTAN
Father Quirico Calella is the architect of the operation. Thus the convent of San Francesco, in the Mina district of Tripoli, was “transformed into a place of life and a positive message of hope”, as stated by the Italian ambassador to Lebanon Nicoletta Bombardiere, speaking at the inauguration of the center “Tausport – St. Francis and the Sultan”.

THE FIRST DIALOGUE
“We decided to name the center like this to commemorate the meeting, more than 800 years ago, in Damietta in Egypt, between St. Francis and the Sultan Malek al Kamil”, says Father Quirico Calella, referring to the historic meeting which represented a milestone in the process of dialogue between Christianity and Islam.

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SPORT ACCORDING TO THE GUARDIAN
The Tausport centre, inaugurated in the presence of the Custos of the Holy Land, Father Francesco Patton, includes an indoor soccer field, a basketball court, a judo and martial arts gym and other recreation rooms. “Sport – said the Custos of the Holy Land – is a means of getting to know life together, here one can learn to cooperate with one another, to have team spirit, to accept each other, to have mutual trust, to grow and develop”.
For the realization of the project, the non-profit association ProTerraSancta has carried out a crucial work of connection between Italian private donors and the convent. For his part, Father Quirico Calella has collected donations from local actors.

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