Messina, Italy - September 2023 - The new academic year at the St Thomas Aquinas  Salesian Theological Institute was opened on Monday 25 September with a Mass celebrated by the Bishop of Patti, Guglielmo Giombanco, in the presence of the Faculty Director, Fr Giovanni Russo, and the Rector of the Community, Fr Giuseppe Cassaro, the religious men and women, the rectors of the seminaries in Messina and Patti, lecturers and students. A year of new awareness, to be lived through new perspectives: this is how Bishop Giombanco emphasised the relevance of theology, "capable of offering the truth that the world seeks even when it rejects it.” A study that is open to many promptings through which to better understand not only the demands of faith", the Bishop explained - a member of the St Thomas' board of management "but also to read the signs of the times, the great existential questions, the meaning of life, the struggle between good and evil, social responsibility and openness to new cultural scenarios". At the beginning of the Mass, animated by the young Salesians at St Thomas under the direction of Ignazio Coniglio and Emanuele Geraci, Fr Russo recalled the educational responsibility linked to the formation of young people who choose to undertake theological studies, in order to achieve objectives that are in keeping with their mission.