NEWS
(ANS – Dungalpitiya) – “Don Bosco Development Center” in Dungalpitiya, a municipality in the city of Negombo, Sri Lanka, received 2,640 boxes of rice-meals for distribution thanks to a partnership between Salesian Missions, the U.S. development arm of the Salesians of Don Bosco, and Rise Against Hunger, an international relief organization that provides food and life-changing aid to the world’s most vulnerable. More than 6,000 people in Salesian centers and local communities were impacted by this donation.
(ANS - Rome) - On Sunday, January 29, the parish community of the Basilica "San Giovanni Bosco al Tuscolano," in Rome, gathered for the Sunday Eucharistic celebration in view of the feast of Don Bosco. The celebration was attended by a large number of faithful, civil and military authorities, all gathered around Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Secretary of State of the Holy See and close collaborator of the Pope.
(ANS - Kinshasa) - The young people’s warm embrace of Francis in Kinshasa's Martyrs' Stadium opened the third day of the 40th apostolic journey to the Democratic Republic of Congo, Thursday, Feb. 2, 2023. It was a celebration marked by music, choirs, acclamations in a packed Martyrs' Stadium in Kinshasa. Many hands raised to the sky acclaimed the Bishop of Rome in the crowded stadium: over 65 thousand people were present, including many young people belonging to the Salesian Family. A meeting also marked by the Pope's strong appeal not to give in to corruption and to choose the good, without "letting oneself be swallowed up by the swamp of evil."
PHOTO GALLERY
INTERVIEWS
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Italy – Pope's trip to Democratic Republic of Congo, Fr. Antúnez (Missioni Don Bosco): "Reinforced in our mission"(ANS - Turin) - Sharing life with the poor, day by day, in villages where there is often no water or light, far from the big cities: this is the precise choice - within which the education of children and young people is obviously grafted - made by the approximately 100 Salesians who live in a dozen communities in the Democratic Republic of Congo. "And we expect to be reinforced in our mission exhibition and vocation by the visit of Pope Francis. Reinforced by a Pope who has his feet on the ground and his heart in heaven. Reinforced by the witness of a man who brings good, who has a sensitivity for the poor that is evangelical, it is the Gospel!" says peremptorily Fr. Daniel Antunez, 63, president of "Missioni Don Bosco."
EDITORIAL
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Don Bosco and the wager on young peopleTo give a trade to those who do not have one or a meaning on how to spend one's existence improving the world. Affirming the right of every person and of the weakest to have a dignified life and transforming through these the society of adults. All this and more St. John Bosco can still give, provided we know how to bring him back not only in the words of a popular song still among his followers but in the method, virtues, and concrete planning of his dreams.
EVENTS
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Italy – Centenary of Proclamation of St. Francis de Sales as Patron of Journalists(ANS - Padua) - An event to celebrate the centenary of the proclamation of St. Francis de Sales as Patron Saint of Journalists and Writers will take place in Padua on January 28, 2023, organized by the Italian Catholic Press Union (UCSI) and the Salesian International Higher Institute of Educational Research (ISRE). Scheduled at the Theological Study Hall of the Basilica of St. Anthony, from 9:30 a.m. to 12:45 p.m. (UTC+1), the event shall also contribute to an in-depth discussion of some of the themes proposed by Pope Francis in his recent apostolic letter "Totum amoris est" (Everything pertains to love) on the figure of the holy bishop of Geneva.
SPECIAL REPORTS
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RMG – The Fascinating Saint(ANS - Rome) - Don Bosco is perhaps the most amazing and fascinating saint, history has ever produced. Every saint carries within him or her a particular charism and fascination, but in Don Bosco once can gauge a rich and perfect combination of human and divine qualities. It is amazing to note, how a simple, poor, semi-orphan peasant boy from Becchi, could rise up to the founding of a congregation, and sow the seed for the rise of a great movement, the Salesian family which has more 400,000 members all over the world. Today his followers, the Salesians of Don Bosco are more than 14,000 and present in 134 countries of the world reaching out to the young people most in need.
MESSAGES OF THE RECTOR MAJOR
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Our YOUNG PEOPLE as YEAST in today’s human familyThe Rector Major’s message to young people of the Salesian Youth Movement
Today, 31 January, feast of St John Bosco, Fr. Ángel Fernández Artime, the tenth successor of Don Bosco, with a significant message exhorts young people to renew their social commitment to live as true leaven in the human family. He proposes four areas of intervention: service to human life, promotion of family values, defence of human rights and children's rights, respect and care for creation. He invites young people to be in today's human family - leaven, salt and light. He urges young people to embrace the commitment to build a more just and fraternal world, and to use their best strengths and positive energies to realise the dream that God has for each one.