(ANS – Setúbal) – Along with Lisbon, Setúbal is also a diocese that is offering hospitality to pilgrims who have come from all over the world to participate in World Youth Day (WYD) 2023. In the Santa Ana Institute of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians there are about 150 pilgrims from the Salesian Youth Movement (SYM) who are experiencing their WYD in a very engaging way.
(ANS – Lisbon) – In a great feast of colours, flags, hymns, songs and prayers, the Holy Father Pope Francis' long-awaited first meeting with young pilgrims at World Youth Day in Lisbon 2023 took place in the afternoon of Thursday 3 August. The meeting with the Pope was scheduled for 5.45pm, but young people started gathering hours earlier on the Hill of Encounter.
(ANS – Lisbon) –Four years after the last major international edition, Panama 2019, and after a longer than expected wait due to the pandemic, the 38th World Youth Day (WYD) finally opened on 1 August 2023 in Lisbon. It is the first international edition since Covid-19, the first to be held in Portugal and the fourth to be presided over by Pope Francis. But these are just some of the many interesting figures of this WYD, presented to journalists during the Press Conference presenting the event.
(ANS – Lisbon) – “We are here in this city that is yours”. These were the words of Cardinal Manuel Clemente, Patriarch of Lisbon, who began the Opening Mass of World Youth Day in Lisbon.
(ANS - Madrid) – World Youth Day (WYD), which will take place in Lisbon, Portugal, from 1 to 6 August 2023, is now in the final stages of preparation before the start. The Salesian Youth Movement (SYM) in Spain, with 2,200 young participants, will join this great worldwide event of enormous importance for the Church, around Pope Francis, to witness to their faith.
(ANS - Varadarajanpet) – Don Bosco Jananam, the Department of Addiction and Counselling and Treatment Centre of the Salesian Province of Trichy, organized Inter-School Cultural Competitions in collaboration with Don Bosco Hr. Sec. School, Varadarajanpet, on July 14 to campaign against drug abuse and illicit trafficking.
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.