The International Vittorino Colombo Prize was awarded this year to Fr. Bernardo Cervellera, Director of the AsiaNews Agency. Fr. Cervellera, a PIME religious, is passionately dedicated to his mission as a journalist and is deeply esteemed throughout the world for his news reports and profound analyses of the vast continent of Asia and its problems.
The Award was established in 1997 to commemorate the figure of statesman Vittorino Colombo, several times minister in Italy in the last century, a noble figure, deeply committed to his Catholic faith and Italian political life and an appreciated weaver of international relations, especially with China, which he urged to guarantee greater freedom to Christians and other religious communities.
In fact, in accepting the prize, Fr. Cervellera said that he dedicated it to three Chinese bishops who have been forbidden to exercise their ministry and who have disappeared at the hands of the police.