(ANS – Cuiabá) – On the last day of engagements in the Saint Alphonsus Liguori Province, Friday, 15 March, Cardinal Ángel Fernández Artime, Rector Major of the Salesians, offered advice and messages of faith and courage to the participants in the Salesian Missionary Symposium. The event was entitled "From dream to missionary reality in a time of synodality" and took place in the Fazenda Mato Grosso hotel in Cuiabá.
(ANS – Cuiabá) – On his penultimate day of visiting the Saint Alponsus Liguori Province of Campo Grande, Brazil (BCG), the Rector Major, Cardinal Ángel Fernández Artime, met hundreds of young people from different schools in Cuiabá and visited several significant works in the city, Capital of the State of Mato Grosso.
Grand-Halleux, Belgium – March 2024 – The Don Bosco Farnières Centre organised a meeting from 8 to 10 March for all actors involved in the Domaine Don Bosco de Farnières. Over 60 participants representing a dozen groups including SDB, FMA, staff, Salesian Cooperators, "Patro Don Bosco" of Verviers, volunteers, Haïti-Farnières, Ephata Don Bosco Movement, and among others some young "jeunesse-nature". The event was organised with the intention of spreading the spirit of Don Bosco in all those involved, promoting mutual knowledge, the human wealth of the great family of Farnières, the objectives of the centre and the contribution that everyone can give based on their skills and experiences.
Venice-Mestre, Italy – March 2024 - The school yearbook was presented on Saturday, 16 March on the occasion of the delivery of the report cards to parents and students of the Salesian Institute San Marco in Venice Mestre. This is a publication that gathers all the faces of students and teachers, in an unprecedented version that used technology and creativity to create a unique product. Thanks to AI, it was possible to customise the profile of each student by creating an avatar, or a digital figure for the students of the Institute. Each student was asked to provide a brief description of themselves that focused on both aesthetic and character aspects, data that was then used by an algorithm that governs the Leonardo.AI application, to generate the image described by each boy. The potential of this tool was further exploited through another form of artificial intelligence, OpenAI's ChatGPT, to give not only a visual consistency to this avatar, but rather a real story whose main charcter was the version designed and described by the students at the San Marco Institute.
(ANS – Rome) – In preparation for the 2024 Communication Conference, "Shaping Tomorrow", scheduled from 1 to 7 August 2024 at the Pontifical Salesian University (UPS) in Rome, the Congregation's Social Communication Sector offers some ideas for a fundamental step in today's communication practice: the development of a "communication strategy".
(ANS - Lahore) - On Friday, 15 March 2024, at the Sacred Heart Cathedral in Lahore, Pakistan, Archbishop Sebastian Francis Shaw, OFM, officially closed the Diocesan Inquiry into the life, martyrdom and reputation of the Servant of God Akash Bashir (22 June 1994 - 15 March 2015), a Cause that had been opened two years ago, on 15 March 2022.
PHOTO GALLERY
INTERVIEWS
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Chile – Former Salesian student in the fight against Alzheimer's disease(ANS - Santiago) - Dr Nibaldo Inestrosa, graduate of the Salesian Institute in Valdivia and national prize of Natural Sciences winner, is a pioneer and expert in the study of Alzheimer's disease in the country. In this interview, he offers an insight into the current challenges, but not before reflecting on his formative experience at the Salesian Institute in Valdivia and how this influenced his interest in biology and science.
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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India – INS youth solemnise Don Bosco’s Feast Day with ‘Ka Sur Kynud S-3’ Grand Finale(ANS – Shillong) – The Youth of St John Paul II, Shillong Province, celebrated the Feast Day of St. John Bosco with the Grand Finale of “Ka Sur Kynud, Season 3.” Organised by Don Bosco Media Network Television, the Social Communication Department of the Province, at Don Bosco Youth Centre, Laitumkhrah, Shillong, this two-month-long singing competition, which imitates the global singing competition The Voice, concluded on 31 January 2025, coinciding with the Solemnity of St John Bosco.
SPECIAL REPORTS
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RMG - St. Francis de Sales Communicator: All for Love(ANS – Rome) - The figure of St. Francis de Sales, chosen by Don Bosco as an example of a communicator, teaches that communication is a matter of the heart. In his expression, "Everything in the Church is love: everything lives in love, for love, and of love," we understand his revolution in the way of communicating, and how communication becomes fruitful when it allows communion and the exchange of one's experiences in a path of accompaniment and collaboration in God's project.
MESSAGES OF THE RECTOR MAJOR
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WHAT A GIFT TIME IS!THE MESSAGE OF THE VICAR OF THE RECTOR MAJOR,
Fr Stefano Martoglio, SDBThe beginning of the new year is illuminated in our liturgy by the ancient formula with which the Israelite priests blessed the people: "May the Lord bless you, and keep you. May the Lord show His face to you, and have mercy on you. May the Lord turn His countenance to you, and give you peace."