(ANS – Lahore) – "The blood of martyrs is the seed of new Christians," said Tertullian in the second century AD. This "miracle" is also being renewed in Lahore, Pakistan, thanks to the sacrifice of Akash Bashir, the young Salesian past pupil who on March 15, 2015, lost his life by embracing a suicide bomber to prevent him from entering the church of Saint John in Youhannabad, Lahore's Christian quarter. Fr Francis Gulzar, parish priest of that same church, gives his testimony.

(ANS - Seville) - In a meeting of young people from various ecclesial movements, the question was: "Do young people feel listened to by the Church?" On the one hand, the answers contribute to a true reflection on the role of young people in relation to the Church; but on the other, it calls on young people to engage in "a Church that belongs to everyone." At the Pope's meeting with youth, he said: "Church and society need you. With your approaches, with the courage you have, with your dreams and ideals."

(ANS - Rome) - Today, November 2, on the Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed, Pope Francis celebrates Mass for those fallen in all wars at the American Cemetery of Nettuno, and then visits the Shrine of the Fosse Ardeatine for a prayer for the victims of the 24 March, 1944, massacre. A massacre of which the Salesians were the first, horrified witnesses.