Lay Centre resident returns for belated Harvard commencement

By Heather Walker

ROME - Lay Centre resident Pedro Paulo Oliveira Weizenmann flew back to the United States last month for his in-person commencement ceremony at Harvard University. Due to the pandemic and ongoing restrictions, the ceremony was postponed and, on May 29, the classes of 2020 and 2021 came together in Harvard Yard to celebrate their commencement.

“It was a very special moment of closure for me to meet my friends from college once again, and to be with my family after almost two years without seeing them,” said Weizenmann.

A graduate in government, with a minor in economics, his senior thesis was entitled “Catholic Human Rights Thought: The Latin American Contribution.”

After commencement, he went to Germany with his parents to participate at an event of the Schoenstatt Movement, Pentecost Congress 2022, held June 8-12. Weizenmann has been living at The Lay Centre since September 2021 and working at the Ecology and Creation Sector of the Vatican Dicastery for Promoting Integral Development.