(ANS - Vatican City) - Next January 1, on the occasion of World Peace Day, the 30th edition of the Vatican Christmas Concert, the event sponsored by the Pontifical Gravissimum Educationis Foundation of the Dicastery for Culture and Education together with other entities, will be aired on the Italian network "Canale 5." The Christmas Concert, which this year will be under the banner of peace and solidarity, supports the Turin Mission Office, "Missioni Don Bosco," and will feature the Salesian missions in Ukraine and all the Houses that find themselves in conflict/war-related contexts.

Rome, Italy - October 2022 - Yesterday afternoon, Oct. 25, Pope Francis took part at the Colosseum in the final act of the prayer meeting for peace promoted by the Community of Sant'Egidio, signing a common appeal with Christian leaders and world religions. After the moment of prayer inside the Flavian Amphitheater, the final ceremony took place on the stage set up outside with some testimonies and closing speeches followed by a minute of silence to remember the victims of war, terrorism, violence, and human trafficking. The appeal was then delivered to some boys and girls by the writer, witness of the Shoah, Edith Bruck, and symbolically to all the youth of the world. In his speech Pope Francis, after thanking all those present, said "This year our prayer has become a 'cry,' because today peace is gravely violated, wounded, trampled: and this in Europe, that is, on the continent that in the last century experienced the tragedies of the two world wars. We are in the third one. Unfortunately, since then, wars have never stopped bloodying and impoverishing the earth, but the moment we are living is particularly dramatic." The Pontiff emphasizes once again that "peace is at the heart of religions," that peace which is denied and humiliated in so many parts of the world and whose cry is often silenced "by war rhetoric," but also by hatred and indifference. Yet it is an invocation that, the Pope says, "cannot be suppressed."

Source: Vaticannews.va

(ANS - Vatican City) - On September 29 and 30, the international summit "Sport for All" was held in the Vatican, in the Paul VI Hall, a congress promoted by the Vatican itself through the Dicastery for Laity, Family and Life and by the Dicastery for Culture and Education, as well as by the John Paul II Foundation for Sport, the International Olympic Committee, the International Paralympic Committee, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, UNESCO... and various international sports organizations. The Salesian Congregation also participated, being represented by Diego Pérez Ordóñez, member of the Sports Commission of the "Spain-Mary Help of Christians" (SMX) Province, present on behalf of the Salesian Youth Ministry Department.

(ANS - Rome) - By reason of the canonization ceremony of Artemide Zatti, Pope Francis and the Rector Major were honored with an icon of the new saint, handcrafted by Lara Sacco, a professional iconographer. Pope Francis received it from the Rector Major on the sidelines of the audience granted on Saturday, Oct. 8, while it was given to Fr. Ángel Fernández Artime on Sunday, Oct. 9, as a tribute from the Salesian Congregation. Here, in detail, are the multiple meanings of the icon.

Vatican City, Vatican - Oct. 9, 2022 - Before concluding the Eucharistic celebration for the Canonization of Giovanni Battista Scalabrini and Artemide Zatti, and reciting the Angelus prayer directly from the Sacristy of St. Peter's Basilica, the Holy Father Francis addressed a greeting to the delegation of Salesian Brothers who had come from all over the world: "I greet the Cardinals, Bishops, priests, consecrated persons, especially the Missionaries, men and women, of St. Charles Borromeo and the Salesian Coadjutor Brothers. I greet with gratitude the official Delegations." About 50,000 faithful in St. Peter's Square for the Holy Mass and recitation of the Angelus.

(ANS - Vatican City) - "Salesian Brother Artemide Zatti was a living example of gratitude." With these words, pronounced during the homily of today's Mass, Oct. 9, 2022, Pope Francis points all the faithful to the model of the "holy nurse" and "relative of all the poor," on the day he proclaims his sanctity before the universal Church. It is just past 10:00 a.m. (UTC+2) when the Eucharistic Celebration with the Rite of Canonization of Salesian Brother Artemide Zatti and Msgr. Giovanni Battista Scalabrini, bishop and Founder of the Congregation of the Missionaries of St. Charles and the Congregation of the Missionary Sisters of St. Charles Borromeo, begins on the parvis of St. Peter's Square in Rome.