Quito, Ecuador – October 2024 - The football school project for the children and young people of the Achuar people continues to grow. On Saturday, 12 October, the eighth school in the Achuar Ipiak community was inaugurated, which will benefit about 100 boys, girls and young people in the area. Fr Enio Esteves, representing the Wasakentsa community, was present at the opening ceremony. In an atmosphere of great joy, the families from the community gathered to witness how this initiative, so desired for their children, has become a reality. During the event, Fr Esteves offered some words of motivation and distributed the necessary material for the physical and sports preparation of the participants. This project, which began in 2018 and is called Yankuam Jintia, currently brings together more than 700 boys, girls and young people from the following communities: Wichimi, Patukme, Wasakentsa, Sapapentsa, Karakam, Wampuik, Wachirpas and Ipiak. One aspect to highlight is the participation of women, who represent about 40% of the total enrolled in the schools. Fr Agustín Togo, promoter of the football schools,stresses that the aim of this proposal is to educate and evangelise through sport that has strong roots in the culture of the Achuar people. "In the Achuar people, football unites, from the youngest to the oldest, and around it there is dialogue, encounter, familiarity, solidarity." The future goal is to organise community leagues and establish agreements so that boys and girls from football schools can try and join professional football clubs or teams, demonstrating that Achuar talent can go far.

Argentina – October 2024 – On 1 October, the Youth Ministry of the Salesian Province of Argentina South (ARS) held a virtual meeting on the theme "I came to sit at your table...", with the challenge of dreaming together with the Salesian Youth Movement (SYM). Convened by Salesian Brother Agustín Camiletti, Provincial Delegate for Youth Ministry, together with a group of members of the SYM Province Team, the event was aimed at managers, rectors, pastors, reference people and coordinators of the local SYM; members of the House Council and/or the animating nucleus and members of the spaces or associate groups of the SYM. In addition to the coordinators, councillors of national movements, Regional Councils of the Explorers (Scout) Battalions and other various teams. Agustín Camiletti spoke, explaining arrangements in the ARS Province, then Fr Darío Perera, ARS Provincial, spoke, stressing the importance of the processes carried out to achieve common thinking for the Province SYM. Salesian Brother Hugo Vera, national councillor for Youth Ministry, dependent on the Argentine Episcopate, together with Fernanda Andrada, representative of the ARS SYM in the SYM National Commission, spoke about the extent of Argentina's SYM. Facundo Cousido, young representative of the SYM from the Province in the National Commission for Youth Ministry, and María José Colombo, Provincial Secretary for Youth Ministry, presented two pastoral documents. In addition, one of the aspects of the Congregation's Salesian Youth Ministry Framework, dedicated to "The Oratory-Salesian Youth Centre", was explored in order to update, strengthen and relaunch it. Finally, Agustín Camiletti announced that the final summary document of the Salesian Youth Synod in Valdocco was released and recalled the youth proposals for the summer of 2025.

Krakow, Poland – October 2024 – As is the case every year, on the Sunday before the election of Karol Wojtyła as Pope (16 October 1978), Pope John Paul II Day is celebrated throughout Poland and in Polish communities abroad. Poles gather to participate in liturgies, various services, prayer vigils, meditations and conferences dedicated to the Saintly Pope. This year's 24th Day of Pope John Paul II was celebrated on 13 October, with the motto: "The Gospel of old age and suffering", organised, as always, by the "Opera del Nuovo Millennio" Foundation with two main objectives: to support talented and destitute young people by raising funds for scholarships; and to promote the teachings of Pope John Paul II. As is the case every year, the Salesians and the faithful from the parish of St Stanislaus Kostka and from the Salesian Seminary (WSDTS) in Krakow and from Salesian presences not only of the country, took part on 12 October in the twentieth edition of the "Pilgrimage in the footsteps of Karol Wojtyła the worker" to the Shrine of St John Paul II in Krakow-Łagiewniki. Starting in the church of St Stanislaus Kostka, the pilgrimage route arrived in front of the house of the Servant of God Jan Tyranowski, Karol Wojtyła's mentor, at the house where Karol Wojtyła lived since 1938, to reach the quarry at Zakrzówek, where Karol Wojtyła worked, to participate in the Via Crucis. Moving on, they arrived at the Shrine of Saint John Paul II, where the Eucharist was celebrated, presided over by Fr Dariusz Bartocha, SDB, Secretary General of the Conference of Major Superiors of Men's Religious Institutes and new Delegate for Social Communication of the PLS Province.

Photo: WSDTS Krakow