(ANS - Munich) - At the Third Meeting of the Missionaries in Europe recently held in Munich in Bavaria, there were five missionary priests ordained this year (4 for the Province of France-Southern Belgium and one for Northern Belgium). They had been sent as missionaries to Europe after their post-novitiate and had done their training and theological studies in their new Provinces.

(ANS - Aleppo) – There were new attacks and new massacres all over Syria on Sunday, 21 February: four explosions in Damascus, two attacks in Homs, and Aleppo is again disputed land between the army and various rebel factions. In this nightmare scenario the Salesians remain alongside the young people.

(ANS - Namugongo) - Uganda is a predominantly agricultural country, with 80% of its area devoted to agriculture. However, young people seeking jobs in urban areas often leave small agricultural plots of land in rural areas uncultivated. The soil is fertile and there are two rainy seasons per year, resulting in two harvests a year.  The Salesians have begun to take advantage of this situation to offer additional educational opportunities.

(ANS - Rome) - About midnight on Friday, the Italian newspapers shocked the world of literature and culture with the news of the death of Umberto Eco, writer, philosopher, and also a Salesian past pupil. Eco received his Salesian education and, indeed, in many of his works he made reference to the Salesians and Don Bosco. In an interview he remembered the good times spent with the Salesians and expressly remembered Don Celi: "This Salesian taught me how to play a musical instrument."

(ANS - Aleppo) - The situation in Aleppo? ‘Everything here is confusion, death is everywhere, nobody can understand what is happening and we do not know who we can trust. We were preparing with young people a play to celebrate Don Bosco and we had to stop because several of them died during the bombing’. Fr Luciano Buratti, one of the three Salesians who live in the Salesian House in Aleppo, Syria, says this with a broken voice.