“It is a meeting of young people, 18 to 34 years old, who want to show the world that universal brotherhood, a united world, is an ideal worth living for,” Avam Inocencio, Genfest organizer said. The festival was born from a prophetic intuition of Chiara Lubic, founder of the Focolare Movement, and started in 1973. “It is the first time it will be held in Asia and outside Europe,” Inocencio explained.

The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) has endorsed the event. Several bishops have encouraged their Catholic youth to support and attend Genfest.“It would be good to send delegates from every parish to this big event,” said Bishop Honesto F. Ongtioco of Cubao.

With the theme “Beyond all borders” this year’s edition of Genfest “aims to plant ‘seeds of unity’ in the hearts of all its participants so that after the event, they may be inspired to bring unity wherever they are especially in the parishes where they belong,” Inocencio added.