Good Nite by Fr. Roman Jachimowicz

Good Nite by Fr. Roman Jachimowicz
“A new wind is blowing across Europe”

(ANS – Rome – November 6, 2026) – On the evening of November 5, during the general council session which began on October 26, Fr. Roman Jachimowicz, general councilor for the Central and Northern Europe Region, gave his Good Nite to the Sacred Heart community at Salesian headquarters. Drawing on his extraordinary visitation to Belgium and the Netherlands, and his time in Germany and Austria, he offered some reflections on cultural changes in Europe and the challenges they pose to the Salesians.

Something is changing in Europe

Fr. Jachimowicz spoke of a time of encounters and reflection. The protests sweeping through various European cities – each very different from the other – are, for him, a sign of dissatisfaction, fear of the future, and a need for security and guidance. Hence the question: are the Salesians in Europe able to recognize this change?

One moment in Assel, the Netherlands, has stayed with him: a large group of young people had gathered to pray, the majority of whom had no religious background. They were seeking silence, a moment to pause, something more profound. For the councilor, after years of talking about a secularized society, today we must increasingly speak of a post-secular society: a section of society has lived without God and without transcendence, and now feels a void.

The European paradox

Referring to contemporary art, which is often made up of fragments and has no connection to goodness, truth, and beauty, he described an era with many images, ideas, and freedoms, but one that struggles to find meaning. Europe offers possibilities never seen before: comfortable homes, well-stocked supermarkets, travel, education, healthcare, and technology. Yet anxiety, depression, and loneliness are on the rise. Young people have thousands of contacts but few deep relationships; they receive a vast amount of information but struggle to understand the world.

Using a simple image, he spoke of “information overload”: like fast food, it fills you up but doesn’t nourish you and can lead to “mental obesity,” with a full mind and an empty heart. The model of happiness that’s constructed, planned, or bought doesn’t work entirely, and the fundamental questions return: who am I? Where do I belong? What’s the meaning of my life? Where am I going? Not even artificial intelligence can answer these for us.

A cry for meaning, and the word “listen”

What’s happening today isn’t, in his view, merely a whisper, but at times “a cry for meaning, for belonging” and, ultimately, a cry directed toward God. This doesn’t mean a return to the religious forms of the past, nor that Europe is suddenly becoming Christian, but that many young people are seeking something true and stable. He cited France, where tens of thousands of young people gathered to pray and meet the Pope.

For the Salesians, the key word is listening: not only to what young people say, but also to what they don’t yet know how to say. Perhaps young people are asking their questions in places where the Salesians aren’t present. Recalling Dino Buzzati’s The Desert of the Tartars and Fortress Bastiani, he warned against the risk of having facilities full of young people without hearing their questions. The issue, he said, isn’t merely whether the works are functioning, but whether we’re still listening: can we recognize the young person who doesn’t immediately ask for catechism but seeks silence, and who doesn’t say, “I’m seeking God,” but “I don’t know what meaning my life has”?

A path toward God

The challenge isn’t to stop at social or psychological support, however necessary that may be. The Salesians are called to offer a home, genuine relationships, education, friendship and, “also or above all”, a path toward God. Fr. Jachimowicz expressed his conviction that a new wind is blowing in Europe and that the era in which secularization seemed the definitive answer is coming to an end. “You can’t see the wind. We only see what it moves.” He concluded with the question: are European Salesians ready to see this new wind?