NEWS
(ANS - Rome) - Today, 8 February 2016, the Church celebrates its Second World Day to Combat Human Trafficking. The day was strongly desired by Pope Francis and launched for the first time in 2015. Significantly, it is celebrated on the day when we commemorate St Josephine Bakhita, herself a victim of trafficking. The aim is to create greater awareness of the problem and try to give concrete answers to end this scourge.
(ANS - Tema) - "You cannot stop the wind with your hands", says an African proverb. But you can hear the wind and interpret the signs of the time, as the Gospel invites us to do, trying to be merciful like the Father towards those who have fallen into the ruthless network of human trafficking. In this light we can interpret the visit made by Fr Ángel Fernández Artime, Rector Major, to a centre for child victims of trafficking, on the afternoon of Saturday 6 February.
(ANS - Rome) - At dawn on Sunday 7 February, the death took place at the Puerta de Hierro Hospital in Madrid, of Fr Agustín Pacheco Pascua, SDB, Director of the DON BOSCO IN THE WORLD Foundation and previously Director of the Salesian Mission Office in Madrid.
PHOTO GALLERY
INTERVIEWS
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Italy – In conversation with a Salesian influencer: Fr Eustace Siame(ANS - Rome) - ‘“Go and mend the nets.” Jesus called his first apostles while they were mending their fishing nets (cf. Mt 4:21-22). He asks the same of us today. Indeed, he asks us to weave other nets: networks of relationships, of love, of gratuitous sharing where friendship is profound and authentic; networks where we can mend what has been broken, heal from loneliness, not focus on the number of followers, but experience the greatness of infinite Love in every encounter.’ This was the appeal Pope Leo XIV made to Catholic influencers and digital missionaries last July for the Jubilee dedicated to them. Salesian Fr Eustace Siame is certainly one of them, and today he presents his apostolate to us.
EDITORIAL
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RMG – Don Bosco: “The Fascinating Saint”(ANS - Rome) - Don Bosco is perhaps the most amazing and fascinating saint, history has ever produced. The humble work which he began for the welfare of his poor and abandoned boys in Italy has produced astonishing results, and today there are nearly 14000 Salesians working in 138 countries, and there are more than 200,000 members belonging to the 32 groups of the worldwide Salesian Family sharing the charism of Don Bosco and reaching out to the needy young people.
EVENTS
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South Korea – Catechist Formation, From Theory to Practice: Symposium Held on “The Wise Use of the Guidelines for Catechist Formation”(ANS – Seoul) – A symposium titled “The Wise Use of the Guidelines for Catechist Formation” was successfully held on Saturday, 8 November, at the Salesian Provincial House in Shingil-dong, Seoul, to diagnose the current state and seek the future of catechetical education in the Korean Catholic Church.
SPECIAL REPORTS
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RMG – The feast that gave Birth to the Oratory and the Salesian Mission(ANS – Rome) – The solemnity of the Immaculate Conception is like a “birthday” in Salesian history: it marks the beginning of Don Bosco’s Oratory, the foundation of the Congregation, and a permanent Marian key for Salesian spirituality and mission. All the successors of Don Bosco have repeatedly returned to 8 December to rediscover in it the style, hope, and maternal presence of our Immaculate mother that continues renewing the Salesian Family today.
MESSAGES OF THE RECTOR MAJOR
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The Christmas Grotto, where Heaven Meets EarthTHE MESSAGE OF THE RECTOR MAJOR, Fr Fabio Attard, SDB
The mystery of Christmas begins with a “scandal of love”: the Great One who makes Himself little. It's not a poetic image, but the most shocking reality in human history.
God, the Infinite, chooses to become finite; the Almighty chooses the fragility of a newborn baby who cannot yet speak, walk, or defend Himself. It is pure gratuitousness made manifest, a gift that seeks nothing in return, that imposes no conditions in order to gain access.