(ANS – Fatima) – Hundreds of pilgrims of the Salesian Family (SF), gathered as per tradition at the Marian Sanctuary of Fatima, together with the boys and girls of the Salesian Youth Movement (SYM/MGS) who are meeting there to celebrate their National Day. This year the celebration was lived with even more participation than usual because of the centenary of the apparitions.

(ANS - Parañaque City) - A three-week Salesianity seminar was held between April and May in the Philippines, in Parañaque City; it is the first part of a three-year course that will be developed until 2019 under the themes such as History, Pedagogy and Spirituality. The purpose of the course, open to the participants throughout the Salesian region of East Asia-Oceania, was to produce a concrete document to be used to improve the initial training of the Salesians.

(ANS - Turin) - The Institute of the Volunteers of Don Bosco (VDB) celebrated its centenary just where the Institute was born: in Turin Valdocco.

(ANS - Turin) - The celebrations for the centenary of the Volunteers pf Don Bosco (VDB), the seventh group of the Salesian Family, come to life from this evening, 19 May. Three days of celebration (19-21 May) will take place at Valdocco, the spiritual centre of the entire Salesian Family. The festivities will be marked above all by the spirit of gratitude to God for creating this charism and gratitude to the women and men who have carried it on with fidelity.

(ANS - Alicante) - "Communication begins with people, with being open to the culture of meeting, as Pope Francis says." With these words, the General Councillor for Social Communication, Fr Filiberto González, began his opening speech to the participants at the meeting of the Provincial Delegates for Social Communication of the Mediterranean Region, held from 10 to 14 May at "El Campello", (Alicante).

(ANS - Salerno) - The Department of Humanities at the University of Salerno took on the task of the first public launch of the critical edition of the letters of Don Bosco, published in the "Fonti" series of the Salesian Historical Institute (ISS) in Rome. Over the space of about 30 years, Fr Francesco Motto, the editor of the ten large volumes (the eighth and third-last volume is in print), has managed to personally recapture  from all round the world almost five thousand published and unpublished letters which he has collected and put in order, and then published in chronological order with all the historical-linguistic information useful for their correct understanding.

(ANS - Tokyo) - The first conference of the Salesian Institutions of Higher Education (IUS) in the Asia-Oceania region was held in Tokyo, Japan, from 22 to 26 April. Six centres from three different countries were represented: Japan, the Philippines and Papua New Guinea. The representatives were 7 Salesian Priests, 1 Salesian Brother, and 5 lay people - including two women.

(ANS - Lviv) - From 27 to 29 April, more than 20 Provincial Delegates for Schools of the Salesians and Daughters of Mary Help of Christians from Europe met in Lviv, Ukraine, to retrace developments that have taken place from 2010 to the present. It was seen that the operative choices made were in accordance with the magisterium of the Congregation and the Institute and in response to the Church.

(ANS - Rome) -  The Salesian Communication Days at the Salesian Pontifical University will begin this afternoon, Friday 28 April, and will continue tomorrow. About 160 young people in initial formation for the Salesians and Daughters of Mary Help of Christians and other members of the Salesian Family will study the Pope's message for the 51st World Social Communications Day.