Ondo, Nigeria - 15 April 2016 - Fr Ivo Coelho, Councillor for Formation, has travelled to Ondo to meet the educational community, the youth of the technical school and the Salesians. The technical school in Ondo is one of the most popular in the country. The Salesians are working to raise the educational level and to further improve youth employment and the continuation of studies in university programmes.

Vatican City, Vatican - 1 April 2016 - The Congregation for the Causes of Saints promulgated the Decree on the legal validity of the Diocesan Investigation on the Servant of God Fr Carlo Della Torre SDB, (1900-1982), a missionary in Thailand and founder of the Daughters of the Queenship of Mary Immaculate. This Institute is now split into the Daughters of the Queenship of Mary Immaculate who are lay consecrated, and the Sisters of the Queenship of Mary Immaculate, consecrated religious. The legal validity is the official statement that the diocesan inquiry was dealt with under the current rules for the Causes of Saints.

Lesvos, Greece - April 16, 2016 – On Saturday 16 April Pope Francis paid a visit to Lesvos in Greece, where he was welcomed by the Prime Minister, by His Holiness Bartholomew, Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, and by His Beatitude Ieronymos, Archbishop of Athens and all Greece. Subsequently, the Holy Father went to the Moria refugee camp to visit the refugees. Archbishop Ieronymos, Patriarch Bartholomew and Pope Francis spoke from the podium in the refugee registration courtyard. They then signed a joint statement calling on the international community to respond with courage to this enormous humanitarian crisis and the causes underlying it, through diplomatic, political and charitable initiatives, and through joint efforts in the Middle East and Europe.

(Photo courtesy of L'Osservatore Romano")

(ANS - Abuja) - The Salesians have been in Nigeria since 1982 and are currently working in eight locations across the country with schools, vocational training centres, parishes and oratories. Fr Vincenzo Marrone, SDB, has been living and working in Nigeria for 34 years.

Lubumbashi, D.R. Congo - April 2016 - The qualifying stages of the 2016 Salesian Games of the Central African Province started on 9 April at the "Cité de Jeunes" in Lubumbashi.

Porto Alegre, Brazil - April 2016 - The 19th Chapter of the Province of Brazil-Porto Alegre began on 13 April with Mass celebrated by Fr Natale Vitali, Councillor for the American Southern Cone Region. The participants were welcomed by the Provincial, Fr Asídio Deretti.