For more than a decade, MAGIS Europe has offered young adults from across the continent the opportunity to experience Ignatian spirituality through international community, prayer, service, reflection and adventure. Since 2013, the initiative has brought together young people from different countries around a shared desire to seek and find God in the experiences of everyday life.

In 2026, this European tradition entered a new phase with the launch of MAGIS Euro Summer. Rather than gathering all participants in one large event, the new format brings together a series of smaller Ignatian experiences hosted by different Jesuit communities and Provinces across Europe. This evolution responds to the changing context of youth ministry while preserving what has always been at the heart of MAGIS: international encounter, community, service, discernment and an Ignatian way of seeing and living the world.

The first MAGIS Euro Summer offered seven experiences in four European countries, ranging from a summer trek in Norway and volunteering along the Camino de Santiago in Spain to hiking, art and Ignatian spirituality in Croatia and experiences combining faith, politics and personal discernment in the Italian Dolomites. Each experience had its own character, but all shared the same MAGIS spirit and were conducted in English, creating spaces where young adults from different European backgrounds could meet and journey together.

For JCEP, MAGIS Euro Summer represents an important expression of European collaboration in youth ministry. It allows Provinces to offer young people experiences that would often be difficult to organise independently, while making the richness and diversity of Jesuit life and mission across Europe accessible to a wider generation of young adults.

The following stories offer a glimpse of this first edition — and of how the MAGIS tradition continues to evolve while remaining rooted in the simple invitation to be MAGIS: to seek God in all things, together with others.

Spain

Every summer, Santiago de Compostela welcomes pilgrims from around the world. In 2026, a group of young Europeans joined Apertas, a pastoral initiative founded in 2015 by Sergio García Soto SJ, for a two-week experience of service, prayer, formation and community. As part of Magis Euro Summer, the initiative brought together Jesuits and young people from several European countries, discovering together that the Camino can be both an outward journey and an inward one.

Participants served at the Cathedral’s Pilgrim Welcome Office, welcoming pilgrims, helping with the Compostela and creating opportunities for reflection and prayer. They also volunteered at the Cocina Económica, serving meals to people experiencing vulnerability. Through these two very different forms of service, they discovered that accompaniment is often about simply being present: listening, welcoming and remaining open to the people encountered. As one participant put it, service is not so much about “doing” as about being present.

Prayer and formation gave the experience its Ignatian rhythm, with daily prayer, the examen, personal reflection, spiritual formation, the Magis circle and the Eucharist. Living together, participants from different cultural and spiritual backgrounds gradually formed a close community and reflected on their own journeys of faith and discernment. Their testimonies highlight a central insight of Apertas Europe: the Camino is not only external, but also internal, and through service, community and encounter, young people can discover God at work in the ordinary experiences of life. Read More Here.

Italy

From 12 to 22 August, 85 young people from 13 European countries gathered at Villa Capriolo in Selva di Val Gardena, in the Italian Dolomites, for ten days of prayer, formation, community and outdoor activities. The gathering was the first international experience of its kind hosted there by the Jesuits of the EUM Province.

Participants chose between two workshops. “Faith & Politics” explored the Christian vocation to political engagement through testimonies, Ignatian spirituality and shared reflection, while “Trails of the Heart” offered modules on Bible and Literature and Restorative Justice, encouraging participants to explore faith, relationships and personal growth.

Alongside formation and prayer, the programme included community life, relaxation, good food and three hikes through the Dolomites, including a night hike to watch the sunrise. The combination of the international group, the beautiful surroundings and the warm atmosphere made the gathering a memorable experience, and organisers are already looking forward to a possible next edition — perhaps even in winter. Read More Here.

Norway

16 young adults from across Europe and Lebanon (France, Austria, Germany, the Czech Republic, Croatia, Denmark, and Poland) participated in an experiment organized by the Jesuits in Denmark, held in the Norwegian mountains under the title "Hope Bearers." After a warm welcome by the Dominican sisters in Oslo, the group traveled to Norway’s oldest national park, Rondane, for a five-day mountain trek.

The days were filled with prayer, sharing, daily celebration of the Eucharist, and plenty of time to be inspired by the contemplation of the beauty of Norwegian nature and friendly conversations among participants. Day after day, the group meditated on the stories of extraordinary hope bearers from the Scripture, allowing their narratives to resonate across the silent plateaus and rugged peaks. These stories helped us anchor our hope firmly in God's unchanging faithfulness and reflect on how to be hope bearers in our changing and unstable reality. 

Croatia 

Croatia hosted three MAGIS Euro Summer experiences from 24 to 31 July, bringing the European MAGIS spirit to different parts of the country. Participants could choose between hiking near Zagreb, exploring God through beauty and art in Zadar, and walking in the footsteps of Jesuit missionary Ante Gabrić SJ in the Metković area. Each experience offered a distinctive way of combining adventure, community and reflection, rooted in the Croatian Jesuit tradition.

Near Zagreb, participants explored the trails and natural surroundings of Sljeme, while discovering the lives and witness of Jesuits such as Benedetto de Goes SJ and Josip Müller SJ. In Zadar, the experience invited participants to seek God through beauty and art, using the city's cultural and artistic heritage as a starting point for reflection and prayer. In Metković, participants followed the story and missionary legacy of Ante Gabrić SJ, discovering how his life of service and dedication could inspire their own faith journeys.