Catania, Italy – April 2024 - The Fortieth National Assembly of Youth and Social Tourism APS (TGS) concluded a few days ago, with about 25 participants in attendance, at the headquarters of the Salesian Province Italy – Sicily (ISI). The work began on 15 April with a formation session held by Dr Rosario Papale, who traced the pastoral proposal of 2004, # sullastradadeisogni, inviting participants to understand what the concept of association really is and how it has reason to exist only if projected towards the future, only if those who design and manage, but also those who participate only as volunteers, build day by day only if those who plan and manage, but also those who only participate as volunteers, build small bricks day by day that are a launching pad for tomorrow. The orientation towards the future, based on the world of the TGS, was the guiding thread for the rest of the day, in which the assembly took care of approving the Mission Report and the Budget. Once again, what normally becomes a depersonalised reading of projects and figures, has taken a completely different form. The discussion around the Mission Report and the budget itself were an opportunity for formation, for discovering the present and future activities, for comparing the initiatives but also for becoming aware of the future objectives of the association, of the path undertaken in recent years by the management. On 6 April, at the Salesian San Gregorio house in Catania, an older structure always dedicated to hospitality, the participants were involved in a technical training activity linked to the novelties but also to the precepts of the Single National Register of the Third Sector (RUNTS), led by Lawyer Giancarlo Gargano.

(ANS – Mestre) – The IUSVE Observatory "Youth and the future" was officially presented yesterday, Wednesday, 17 April 2024. Its fundamental goal is to offer an original, timely and coherent look at the Salesian charism on youth cohorts and on the processes that concern them, with attention to the national context, in a broader comparative perspective of ecological and social transition. This is the great news at the centre of the traditional discussion at the Salesian University Institute of Venice (IUSVE), at the annual conference held on 16 and 17 April at the Salesian headquarters in Mestre.

(ANS – Genoa) – The new course for motor vehicle repair mechanics began on the afternoon of Wednesday 17 April, at the headquarters of the Salesian Vocational Training Centre in Genoa, in the presence of the Prefect of Genoa, Cinzia Torraco. A 500-hour training course, divided equally between classrooms/workshops and internships in companies, aimed at certifying some important skills with a view to work, social and cultural integration; the course, thanks to the funds of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan, will allow 18 members, all under 25 from the sub-Saharan area and currently housed in the facilities managed by the Genoese White Cross, to learn the basic knowledge for repairs on motor vehicle thermal engines, the starting point for the future qualification of "operator for the repair of motor vehicles".

(ANS – Turin) – "In Lviv I was impressed by the cemetery in the city centre. A place where the entire community can honour fallen soldiers, but which is full of young people's graves. And in the city I have also seen many people mutilated by war." These are the words of Fr Daniel Antúnez, an Argentine Salesian and President of Missioni Don Bosco, who returned to Italy a few days ago from a trip that took him to visit the projects of the Salesians in Slovakia, Poland and especially in Ukraine a few months later.

Chiari, Italy – April 2024 - The "DLDAY 2024" took place at the Salesian house in Chiari on Sunday 14 April: a day of celebration for pre-adolescents in the Salesian Youth Movement (SYM) of Lombardy, Switzerland, Emilia-Romagna and San Marino. This year everything was focused on the Olympics, a theme that guided the theatre and all the games. The almost 900 boys and girls present competed in the different sports to win the winner's prize. The central moment of the day was the Eucharistic celebration presided over by Don José Miguel Nuñez, SDB, in the Lombard-Emilian Province (ILE), to carry out the Extraordinary Visitation in the name of the Rector Major. In his homily he invited the young people to take Dominic Savio and Laura Vicuña as examples in life to reach holiness.  This opportunity for play would not have been possible without the help of the 300 teenagers of the Leaders Formation School who, since Saturday afternoon, together with their companions, have set up the spaces, prepared the materials and built the scenery. The Chiari Oratory and its volunteers have worked tirelessly to find clean and welcoming environments without ever missing a smile.

(ANS - Rome) - As he tells with a gentleness that does not seem to come from horror, he is "resting a little bit" in Rome these days. Fr Oleh Ladnyuk is a Ukrainian Salesian priest who is a military chaplain at the front, among the soldiers who fight in defence of their country and among the civilians who for over two years have seen their lives wiped out. He brings humanitarian aid where the missiles fall and from those places he helps with the evacuation of young people and adults - so far at least 500 people, but there are probably many more. These days the Salesian – who carries out his ministry in Dnipro and teaches History in a state school in the city – is in Rome to take part with two other priests and a dozen lay people from his country in the "Accompanying when Trauma Hits" course hosted by the Pontifical Salesian University in collaboration with the Faculty of Educational Sciences, with the DON BOSCO NEL MONDO Foundation and the Don Bosco Network. A project that aims to provide theoretical and methodological tools to deal with the traumas caused by war.