Dear brothers and sisters,
Last year we reflected on the need to “Come and See” in order to discover reality and be able to recount it beginning with experiencing events and meeting people. Continuing in this vein, I would now like to draw attention to another word , “listen”, which is decisive in the grammar of communication and a condition for genuine dialogue.
In fact, we are losing the ability to listen to those in front of us, both in the normal course of everyday relationships and when debating the most important issues of civil life. At the same time, listening is undergoing an important new development in the field of communication and information through the various podcasts and audio messages available that serve to confirm that listening is still essential in human communication.
A respected doctor, accustomed to treating the wounds of the soul, was once asked what the greatest need of human beings is. He replied: “The boundless desire to be heard”. A desire that often remains hidden, but that challenges anyone who is called upon to be an educator or formator, or who otherwise performs a communicative role: parents and teachers, pastors and pastoral workers, communication professionals and others who carry out social or political service.
(ANS – Vatican City) –The Vatican is placing its flagship sustainability push, the Laudato Si' Action Platform, front and center during Laudato Si' Week 2022, with the hope that a week highlighting the multiyear initiative will inspire more Catholics and church institutions to sign up.
Vatican City, Vatican - May 2022 - In the Vatican Gardens, at the Bastion of the Master, on the morning of May 17, a ceremony was held to bless and unveil a mosaic depicting the Virgin of the Thirty-Three. Sister Raffaella Petrini, Secretary-General of the Governorate of Vatican City State, recalled during the ceremony that the Virgin of the Thirty-Three was proclaimed Patroness of Uruguay by John XXIII in 1962 at the request of the bishops and the government. Among others present at the ceremony were Cardinal Daniel Sturla, SDB, Archbishop of Montevideo, and Msgr. Enrico dal Covolo, SDB. The mosaic was donated by the Uruguayan Embassy to the Holy See.
(ANS - Vatican City) - Acknowledge and welcome one's own vulnerability in order to know how to bow to those of others. This is the message that Pope Francis left yesterday, May 5, to the Superiors General gathered in Rome for the XII Plenary Assembly of the UISG (International Union of Superiors General): a message he was not afraid to exemplify in the first person, arriving at the meeting in a wheelchair, due to persistent knee pain.
(ANS - Vatican City) - Just as after a fast one eats more to recover lost energy, so St. Peter's Square, after abstinence from crowded celebrations due to the pandemic, was filled yesterday, Easter Monday, April 18, 2022, with a flood of Italian teenagers - about 100,000, according to estimates - who came on pilgrimage to Rome from all the dioceses of the peninsula. It was Pope Francis himself, with the simple and engaging language he uses with teens, who used the metaphor of fasting at the opening of his friendly and fatherly address to the participants.
(ANS - Civitavecchia) - For the sixth time in his pontificate, and for the first time since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, Pope Francis celebrated Holy Thursday Mass in Coena Domini in a prison. Yesterday, April 14, 2022, after presiding over the Chrism Mass in St. Peter's Basilica in the morning, he did so at the Borgata Aurelia Penitentiary in Civitavecchia. In the course of the homily, delivered off the cuff, the Pontiff recalled that "God forgives everything and always", and that we are all called to mutual service and "without interest", personal gain or advantage.
PHOTO GALLERY
INTERVIEWS
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Democratic Republic of Congo – Fr Owoudou on the situation in the eastern parts of the country: “No matter how dark the night may seem, dawn will inevitably come”
(ANS - Goma) - During his latest phase of the Extraordinary Visit to the "Mary Most Holy Assumption" Province of Central Africa (AFC), Fr. Alphonse Owoudou, Councillor for the Africa Madagascar Region, conducted an interview with the magazine "JAMBO VIJANA," representing the youth engaged in the Salesian works of the Province's Eastern Delegation. Addressing the ongoing violence and conflicts in the region, Fr. Owoudou expressed hope, saying: "No matter the length of the night, dawn will inevitably come."
EDITORIAL
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“Speaking with the Heart”: A great Antidote for the Ills of today’s world
‘Revolutionize the world with your kindness, by speaking with your heart’, is the dream that Pope Francis envisions for humanity through his 57th World Communication Day message, that falls on this Ascension Sunday, 21st May 2023. ‘Speak with your heart in truth and charity’, and this is the best antidote that can cure the ills of today’s society.
EVENTS
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Italy – "Labs To Future": the final event of the "Labs To Learn" project in Valdocco
(ANS – Turin) – The final event of the "Labs to Learn" project was held on Tuesday, 5 March 2024, entitled "Labs To Future: The path – The results – The challenges" . The project was selected by the "Con i Bambini" social enterprise within the framework of the Foundation for the Fight against Child Educational Poverty and came into being with the intention of combating early school leaving and preventing educational poverty, increasing the number of young people with difficulties who fulfil their school obligation, access higher education and/or job placement, and opening the way for personal growth according to their inclinations and aspirations.
SPECIAL REPORTS
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Peru – Centenary of the High Altar of the Basilica of Mary Help of Christians in Lima
(ANS – Lima) – The centenary of the consecration of the high altar in the Crypt of the Basilica of Mary Help of Christians in Lima was celebrated on 19 March, on the feast of St Joseph and in homage to Fr José Calasanz Marqués, then Provincial of the Salesians in Peru and Bolivia – now recognised as Blessed by the Church – on account of his name.
MESSAGES OF THE RECTOR MAJOR
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DREAMS THAT KEEP COMING TRUE!
THE MESSAGE OF THE RECTOR MAJOR, Card. Ángel Fernández Artime, SDB
When reflecting on all this, I feel I have a little authority to say: “Dear Don Bosco, your Dream is still VERY ALIVE.”