74-year-old Indian activist Rajagopal, a descendant of Mahatma Gandhi, has introduced a non-violent method of approaching conflict among youth gangs and farmers’ marches for land rights in India. On 11 May 2023, he received the Niwano Peace Prize, a prestigious annual recognition for peace efforts conferred by the Foundation of the same name. Rajagopal, who… Read more »
News flashes
Pope Francis Meets with Artists
On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the inauguration of the Modern Art Collection of the Vatican Museums, Pope Francis received in audience in the Sistine Chapel more than two hundred artists from all over the world: directors, actors, writers, poets, painters, sculptors, architects and musicians. The Pope offered an important invitation to all… Read more »
ITALY Presentation of the Synod’s Work Document
The Instrumentum Laboris (Work Document) of the Synod of Bishops was designed as a practical tool to facilitate this major ecclesial event, scheduled for October 2023. It does not, therefore, provide answers to the stages of the synodal process, but rather raises questions to help promote listening and dialogue both within the Church and outside…
Read more »ITALY Meeting on Fraternity
The World Meeting on Human Fraternity, entitled “Not Alone,” took place on 10 June in St. Peter’s Square and simultaneously in eight other squares around the world linked by television. Inspired by the Encyclical Fratelli tutti and organized by the Vatican Foundation that bears the same name, the Meeting sought to promote the meaning of…
Read more »Toward the Jubilee of 2025
Preparations for the Holy Year of 2025, centered on the theme of hope, have been underway for months now and are proceeding well. To facilitate the estimated 32 million pilgrims anticipated to flock to Rome for this major ecclesial event, the official Jubilee website (www.iubilaeum2025.va) was launched on 10 May 2023. The portal, accessible in… Read more »
Spei Satelles Space Mission
Messages of hope for all humanity will soon be sent on a mission into space. The messages are stored in immensely small objects: a nanolibrary in turn sent by means of a nanosattelite. The Spei Satelles Space Mission is a joint endeavor born on the third anniversary of Pope Francis’ Statio Orbis event in St….
Read more »New President of AIC
Tayde de Callatay has been elected the new president of the International Association of Charities (AIC), the oldest lay association in the history of volunteer work, for a 3-year term of office. The election took place at the end of the Association’s International Assembly held from 21-25 March in Frascati (Rome), during which its initiatives… Read more »
Joint Agreement Between Christians and Muslims
To continue to improve the relationship between Christianity and Islam, the prefect of the Vatican’s Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue, Cardinal Miguel Ángel Ayuso Guixot, and the secretary general of the Muslim Council of Elders, Judge Mohamed Abdelsalam, signed a memorandum of understanding on 6 March. The goal is to strengthen interfaith and intercultural dialogue between… Read more »
Networking: A Project of Women Religious for Our Common Home
Sowing Hope for the Planet is an initiative promoted by the International Union of Women Superiors General (UISG) and its related institutions to put Pope Francis’ encyclical Laudato si’ into concrete action by sharing ideas, formation, and working in synergy to care for our sick planet. Established in 2018, the project’s goal is not simply…
Read more »A Vademecum for Safeguarding the Earth
Our Common Home: A Guide to Caring for Our Living Planet has been issued by the Stockholm Institute for the Environment and the Dicastery for the Service of Integral Human Development. The booklet, replete with diagrams, builds on the contents of Pope Francis’ encyclical, Laudato si’,to offer the ordinary person scientific information on climate …
Read more »