Cisternino, Italy - August 2023 - Two communities, Locorotondo and Cisternino, came together on Monday 29 August on a march to pray for peace, in memory of Venerable Father Francesco Convertini, a Salesian missionary in Bengal. The participants in the eighth "Torchlight Procession for Peace" gathered at the Marinelli district under the large oak tree where Father Convertini loved to pause in prayer. Accompanying the faithful was Archbishop Giovanni Intini, Archbishop of the diocese of Brindisi-Ostuni, and Bishop Vincent Nirmol, Salesian Bishop of Krishnagar. This year marks the 125th anniversary of the birth of Fr Convertini, a Salesian missionary who was born in Locorotondo in the Papariello district in 1898 and died in Krishnagar, India, in 1976, after a life spent alongside the poor of Bengal. This walk was a tribute to Fr Convertini's spirit of compassion and dedication to peace, a call to brotherhood, solidarity and the will to build a better world for future generations. The light of the torches symbolised hope, while the walk through the streets of Locorotondo and Cisternino represented the desire for a better future for all.