(ANS - Vatican City) - During the audience granted on Thursday, March 14, 2024, to Cardinal Marcello Semeraro, the Prefect of the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, the Supreme Pontiff authorized the same Dicastery to promulgate the Decree concerning the miracle attributed to the intercession of the Venerable Servant of God Camillo Costa de Beauregard, a Diocesan Priest born in Chambéry (France) on February 17, 1841, and died there on March 25, 1910 - whose Cause is entrusted to the Salesian Postulation.
(ANS - Rome) – On Tuesday, 5 March 2024, the Holy See Press Office announced that the Holy Father Pope Francis has assigned to Cardinal Ángel Fernández Artime, SDB, the Rector Major of the Salesian Society of St. John Bosco, the titular See of Ursona, with archiepiscopal dignity, in view of his episcopal ordination scheduled for coming 20 April.
(ANS – Vatican City) – Pope Francis releases his prayer intention for March, asking for prayers for the martyrs of our day, and recalling a story he was told by a widowed Muslim man who recounted the martyrdom of his Christian wife as she defied terrorists. In the video, in which the Pope tells the poignant story of a woman martyr in our times, there is also a reference to Akash Bashir, a former pupil of Don Bosco and the first Servant of God in the history of the Church in Pakistan.
(ANS - Vatican City) - The entire universal Church is preparing for the Holy Year of 2025, a Jubilee year in which each person can realize and experience even more powerfully, that God's holiness is able to transform the life of every person. Although all the faithful will be able to receive the grace of the Jubilee in the myriad of initiatives that will be carried out in dioceses around the world, there will certainly be many pilgrims who will travel to Rome for the occasion, to meet the Successor of Peter. As in the past, the organizing committee of the Jubilee 2025 has planned specific moments to experience and celebrate the Jubilee pilgrimage in the various groups and social segments.
(ANS - Rome) - A dream embedded in a postage stamp! And if that dream is the one St John Bosco had at the age of nine, the undertaking seems even more arduous. But that has not stopped the Vatican Post Office, which has decided to include in its philatelic launches for 2024, precisely a stamp dedicated to that episode in the life of the founder of the Salesians, two hundred years after its occurrence.
(ANS – Vatican City) – On Thursday, 15 February 2024, the Holy See Press Office announced that the Holy Father Francis has appointed Salesian Father Francesco Fontana as Chaplain of the Directorate of Museums and Cultural Heritage, Coordinator of all the Chaplains of the Directorates and Central Offices, Coordinator of the "Estate Ragazzi" Program and of the "Family Day" Program and other family pastoral initiatives.
PHOTO GALLERY
INTERVIEWS
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Italy – A Salesian on the front line of the war in Ukraine: "Being close counts, words come later"(ANS - Rome) - As he tells with a gentleness that does not seem to come from horror, he is "resting a little bit" in Rome these days. Fr Oleh Ladnyuk is a Ukrainian Salesian priest who is a military chaplain at the front, among the soldiers who fight in defence of their country and among the civilians who for over two years have seen their lives wiped out. He brings humanitarian aid where the missiles fall and from those places he helps with the evacuation of young people and adults - so far at least 500 people, but there are probably many more. These days the Salesian – who carries out his ministry in Dnipro and teaches History in a state school in the city – is in Rome to take part with two other priests and a dozen lay people from his country in the "Accompanying when Trauma Hits" course hosted by the Pontifical Salesian University in collaboration with the Faculty of Educational Sciences, with the DON BOSCO NEL MONDO Foundation and the Don Bosco Network. A project that aims to provide theoretical and methodological tools to deal with the traumas caused by war.
EDITORIAL
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Myanmar – Tragedy of Innocent Children in the midst of Armed Conflicts(ANS – Naypyidaw) - Myanmar finds itself immersed in profound grief and anguish as innocent lives, particularly those of children, continue to be mercilessly lost in the enduring armed conflicts. Families are left devastated by the tragic loss of their loved ones while the relentless violence shows no signs of abating. This week, a heartfelt plea from Myanmar reached our community, shedding light on the heart-wrenching death of a young girl Juliet in a military airstrike, prompting a unified call for prayers and action.
EVENTS
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Italy – "Education and culture of safeguarding in sport. Towards the establishment of protection and prevention models": PGS conference with UPS(ANS – Rome) – The synergy between the Salesian Youth Sports Centres (PGS) and the Pontifical Salesian University (UPS) in Rome gave rise to the conference on "Education and culture of safeguarding in sport. Towards the establishment of models of protection and prevention", which will take place on 13 April, from 9:00 a.m. to 12:45 p.m., at the UPS facilities in Rome.
SPECIAL REPORTS
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United States – INT’L DAY FOR STREET CHILDREN: Salesian Missions highlights programs that provide shelter and support(ANS – New Rochelle) – Salesian Missions, the U.S. development arm of the Salesians of Don Bosco, joins humanitarian and international organizations around the globe in highlighting the plight of homeless children on the International Day for Street Children. The day provides organizations and the millions of street children in countries worldwide with an opportunity to have their voices heard while ensuring that their rights are not ignored.
MESSAGES OF THE RECTOR MAJOR
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I’M A SALESIAN AND I’M A BOROROTHE MESSAGE OF THE RECTOR MAJOR, Fr Ángel Fernández Artime, SDB
Diary of a Happy and Blessed Missionary Day
Dear friends , I’m writing to you from Meruri in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil. I write this greeting almost as if it were a journalistic report, because it has been only 24 hours since I arrived in the middle of this Brazilian state.