(ANS – Rome) – Currently, around 33% of the population across the Americas live on less than 2 dollars a day and unemployment has increased to 10.7% of the economically active population, decreasing the labour participation mainly of women, informal workers, young people and migrants. Furthermore, poverty gaps persist in rural areas, indigenous peoples, Afro-descendants and children. This social inequality drastically affects access to opportunities and the exercise of the rights of girls, boys, adolescents and young people.
(ANS - Rome) - The annual meeting of the Regional Commission for Formation of the Salesian Region of Central and Northern Europe took place online from 22 to 25 November. The Delegates for Formation of the Provinces of this Region met online with the Sector’s General Councilor, Fr Ivo Coelho, and the Formation Department staff, for session which, in addition to developing the specific themes of the planned proposals, represented an excellent opportunity to foster the bonds between the Delegates and heightened the sense of belonging and union with the Congregation, the Rector Major, the current General Councilor, and his team.
(ANS - Rome) - "I have chosen the missionary life to respond freely and consciously to the call of God who sends us all over the world to announce the good news, and who remains with us until the end of the world (Mt 28.19- 20), and to work in collaboration with the confreres of my new Province where the Lord is sending me.” Speaking with such conviction is the young Congolese Salesian Grégoire Maloba sent, with the 152nd Salesian Missionary Expedition, to his new mission land, Portugal.
(ANS - Rome) - Over the past weekend, from 26 to 28 November, the General Assembly, the most important meeting of the World Confederation of Past Pupils of Don Bosco, which occurs every six years, took place online. On the occasion, the World Presidency was also renewed, which since yesterday has been entrusted to the leadership of Bryan Magro, Maltese Past Pupil, the current Economer of the Confederation.
(ANS - Rome) - Is it possible that the flame of the missionary vocation is lit during a Mass, attending the episcopal ordination of a confrere, listening to songs whose meaning is not even understood? But it seems so -as confirmed by Fr Jose Armando G. Cortez, a 50-year-old Filipino Salesian. 4 years ago he was representing his Province (of Northern Philippines), at the ordination of Fr Pedro Baquero SDB as the bishop of Kerema, Papua New Guinea where he felt moved. After a serious discernment, he conveyed his availability for the missions last Sunday, November 21, at Valdocco and received the missionary mandate from the Rector Major, Fr Ángel Fernández Artime.
(ANS - Rome) - "For me, becoming a Salesian missionary is a desire that goes back to my childhood. I was born in a non-Christian family, but converted to Christianity. I grew up in the missionary parish of Nyakasanza of Ituri-Bunia, in the Northeast of my country, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and there I was baptized and confirmed in 2002. Since my novitiate, which began in 2017, I had expressed to my Novice Master my aspiration to be a missionary." This is how young Dieudonné Ramazani Lukundula, a Congolese Salesian, introduces himself to ANS readers. Last Sunday, November 21, he received the Missionary Cross of the 152nd Salesian Missionary Expedition from the Rector Major, Fr Ángel Fernández Artime.
PHOTO GALLERY
INTERVIEWS
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RMG - Preparation, objectives, challenges and perspectives of GC29: in dialogue with the Moderator, Fr Alphonse Owoudou(ANS - RMG) - Just a few days before the beginning of the 29th General Chapter (GC29) of the Salesian Congregation, Fr Alphonse Owoudou, Councillor for the Africa-Madagascar Region and Moderator of GC29, recounts in detail, through an articulate interview, the work preceding and underlying this responsibility, indicating the spirit that will animate it and the attitudes and conditions to make it truly a Cenacle in which the Holy Spirit can act, for the benefit of the Congregation, the Salesian mission and the youth of the world.
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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Spain – 33rd Edition of the Edebé Prize for Children's and Young Adult Literature: Here Are the Winners(ANS – Madrid) – The 33rd edition of the Edebé Prize for Children's and Young Adult Literature has been awarded to Beatriz Giménez de Ory (Madrid, 1972) for her novel Tres niños tristes y medio unicornio (Three Sad Children and Half a Unicorn) and David Lozano (Zaragoza, 1974) for his novel La cacería (The Hunt).
SPECIAL REPORTS
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United States – CATHOLIC WORLD DAY OF THE SICK: Salesian Missions highlights medical programs for people in need around the globe(ANS – New Rochelle) – Salesian Missions, the U.S. development arm of the Salesians of Don Bosco, joins Catholic organizations around the globe in honoring the Catholic World Day of the Sick. Every year on Feb. 11, the Pope marks the day with a special message calling for spiritual and physical closeness to all those who are ill. Saint John Paul II instituted the day “to encourage the people of God, Catholic health institutions and civil society to be increasingly attentive to the sick and to those who care for them.”
MESSAGES OF THE RECTOR MAJOR
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GOOD, FAITHFUL, AND COURAGEOUS SERVANTSTHE MESSAGE OF THE VICAR OF THE RECTOR MAJOR, Fr Stefano Martoglio, SDB
During this Jubilee year, in this difficult world, we are invited to rise up, set out again, and, in newness of life, make our journey as human beings and believers.