Vatican City, Vatican - August 2022 – Yesterday, Aug. 3, at the end of the General Audience, Pope Francis addressed a special greeting to the children who participated in the Youth Summer Camp at the Vatican: " I greet the children of the Summer Youth Camp in the Vatican. They have been quiet until now but you can hear them now. They are accompanied by their parents and the camp animators, whom I thank for their precious work. I wish to thank Fr. Franco, the 'spiritual soul' of the Vatican, who as a good Salesian was able to plant this seed in setting up this summer camp now in its third year." Fr. Franco Fontana, chaplain and coordinator of the initiative told Vatican News that the Pontiff's words meant a great deal to him and of a beautiful moment that took place before the audience, when the Pope received the animators in a small room, thanking them and “above all encouraging them on how this passion for education must animate them throughout their lives.” Fr. Fontana went on to emphasize that the Pope recalled his commitment, the Salesian commitment, to the preparation and organization of the summer center, which this year grew with the participation of 230 children for five weeks.

Source: Vatican News

(ANS - Foggia) - They began again with football at the Salesian oratory in the Candelaro neighborhood of Foggia. And on the field, here for the first time, girls and young women took to the field. A "pink", or all-female team. "Don Bosco said to start with what the kids like and then give it an educational value," explains Massimo Marino, 47, president of the "Sacred Heart" sports association. "And what the girls were asking us was to play football."

(ANS - Kyiv) - The Salesian Youth Summer Camp activities begin today, August 1, 2022, in Kyiv. In spite of the war that still continues in the country and despite all the ugliness it has generated, there is still a desire for life among the Ukrainian children, youth, and young people left in the country's capital and surrounding areas. Indeed, perhaps precisely because of the war, there is even more yearning for life than before. And that is why the Salesians, who have decided to remain always at the side of the young people and the people entrusted to them, are starting again with a new animation proposal all for them.

(ANS - Tijuana) - Playing, running, jumping, having fun... but above all offering a space for peace: this is the meaning of the Salesian summer camp in Tijuana, known as "Happy Holidays with Jesus" (VAFEJE).

(ANS - Vatican City) - Two years ago, in 2020, Pope Francis asked the Salesians, true professionals in the field, to coordinate the Youth Summer Camp in the Vatican, an initiative aimed at the families of the Holy See's employees, to give children the experience of a summer oratory within the Vatican walls. The initiative was so successful that it was repeated again in 2021 and this year is now in its third edition.

(ANS - Ljubljana) - "What kind of oratories will you do this year?" has been the most frequently asked question this spring to animators and managers of Salesian Youth Centers in Slovenia. Fr. Janez Suhoveršnik SDB, head of the largest Salesian Youth Center in Slovenia, in Ljubljana-Rakovnik, answers with a few simple words, "Again the normal oratory, in the best sense of the word," and then explains, "I mean, the crowd of smiling children and tired, but happy animators at the end of the day. This is a brief description of normalcy."