Kochi, India - November 2024 - After concluding his visit to the Salesian Formation Houses in Karnataka and Kerala belonging to the Salesian Province of Bangalore, India, the General Councillor for Social Communication, Fr Gildasio Mendes, visited the Don Bosco Cultural Centre in Kochi. The visit took place on 17 and 18 November and was the first stage of the General Councillor's visit to Kerala. In Kochi, Fr Gildasio Mendes expressed his admiration for the natural beauty and cultural richness of the State. He then got to know the various facilities of the Centre, including the Don Bosco Academy of Music and Fine Arts, which boasts over 450 students mastering various instruments, both Western and Indian classical, along with dance and fine arts. The General Councillor then admired the Centre's state-of-the-art digitised printing press, IGACT, and visited the Institute of Film and Production and the Graphic Design Department. He then encouraged the students to embrace creativity in the digital age and to be innovative in the field of media. Fr Gildasio Mendes then left for Bangalore, leaving behind a message of inspiration and a renewed focus on creativity and innovation for the Salesian community in Kochi.

Hong Kong – November 2024 – The Mary Help of Christians Province (CIN) organised a Salesian Brothers Day held on 13 November at the Salesian Missionary House in Hong Kong to celebrate the Feast of Saint Artemides Zatti and to pay homage to the Salesian Brother vocation. The event brought together participants from Hong Kong and Macao and involved Fr Domingos Leong, CIN Provincial, and Salesian Cardinal Joseph Zen Ze-kiun. The meeting focused in particular on two topics: the first, reflections and insights following the East Asia-Oceania region Salesain Brothers Congress, and the second, updates on recent personal situations. Cardinal Zen also shared with those present some of his thoughts on the recently concluded Synod on Synodality. Finally, Fr Leong presided at Mass at the Chapel of the Sacred Heart, and prayed for the Salesian Brothers in CIN Province and the entire Salesian Congregation. The day then ended with a moment of joy and conviviality.

Subiaco, Italy - November 2024 - On 14 November, on Curriculum Day, the teachers and students fromthe Institute of Spiritual Theology at the Pontifical Salesian University (UPS) in Rome were able to admire the Sanctuary set against the overhanging rock of the Sacro Speco. It became a privileged opportunity to explore the theme of monastic spirituality. The art guide illustrated to the visitors the life of the young hermit Benedict in the Speco, already considered a ‘place of prayer and miracles’ since the time of St Gregory the Great. Students and teachers were able to admire the evocative beauty of the sanctuary: the paintings covering the wall surfaces, the frescoes in the two churches, the upper and lower, the paintings in the transept and the evocative Holy Grotto where the young Benedict lived for three years unknown to all but God and the Roman monk. ‘From this wild solitude, among barren mountains, all monasteries originated’ (Gregorovius). Leaving the Sanctuary, and still contemplating the sylvan valley that accompanies the silent flowing of the river Aniene with wonder, the fifty members of the group of teachers and students taking part in the curriculum day, reached the ‘San Biagio’ house of prayer, a small hermitage where a group of FMA have offered hospitality and spiritual animation since 1975 to all those who want to ‘reconnect with the essential’, by focusing on listening to the Word of God following the example of St John Bosco and Mother Mazzarello. The teachers and students of the Institute celebrated the Eucharist at San Biagio, and, after lunch prepared by the sisters, had the opportunity for exchange on the activities carried out in the house of prayer.