(Vatican Radio) “Brought by waves:,” that’s the slogan of the fourth edition of the Children’s Train, an initiative of the Pontifical Council for Culture. In collaboration with Italian State Railways, four hundred children from schools in Italy’s southern region of Calabria, will make the long trip north to the Vatican Saturday 28 May to meet Pope Francis. Listen to the report by Tracey McClure: The slogan recalls the many migrants who’ve arrived on the shores of Calabria in recent years. The Pope will receive the children in an audience in the Vatican at noon.Last year, the train brought sons and daughters of inmates of southern Italian prisons to the Vatican.Fr. Laurent Mazas, the director of the Council for Culture’s “Courtyard of the Gentiles” which is sponsoring the initiative, says this year, the focus of the journey is on children who are forced to flee their homes, “migrants who are asking t...
(Vatican Radio) “Brought by waves:,” that’s the slogan of the fourth edition of the Children’s Train, an initiative of the Pontifical Council for Culture. In collaboration with Italian State Railways, four hundred children from schools in Italy’s southern region of Calabria, will make the long trip north to the Vatican Saturday 28 May to meet Pope Francis.
Listen to the report by Tracey McClure:
The slogan recalls the many migrants who’ve arrived on the shores of Calabria in recent years. The Pope will receive the children in an audience in the Vatican at noon.
Last year, the train brought sons and daughters of inmates of southern Italian prisons to the Vatican.
Fr. Laurent Mazas, the director of the Council for Culture’s “Courtyard of the Gentiles” which is sponsoring the initiative, says this year, the focus of the journey is on children who are forced to flee their homes, “migrants who are asking to be welcomed , and are welcomed by Italian children.”
In an interview with Vatican Radio’s Fabio Colagrande, he stresses there will be a mix of foreign and Italian kids who’ve become friends at school, through sports and music – and for this, Fr. Mazas says, they will also be coming with an orchestra.
He notes that Pope Francis was very enthusiastic about last year’s encounter with the children: “I believe it’s always a moment of great tenderness!”
In preparation for Saturday’s journey, participating schools have engaged the children in study groups on migrant themes and have composed the songs “Brought by waves” and “We are all brothers.”
The children will arrive by train in the Vatican Station within the Vatican gardens and will be welcomed by the children’s choir “Quattro canti” from Palermo and by youths of the association “Sports without Borders,” an organization which gives sports opportunities to children from disadvantaged families. The children will return to Calabria later Saturday.
The Principal of the Amerigo Vespucci school in Vibo Marina, Maria Salvia, says she and the children are very grateful and happy for the opportunity to visit the Vatican, “this place which welcomes all the other religions.”
She points out that among the children on Saturday’s journey “will be many children from different religions…They are coming because this Pope is a truly welcoming Pope, so they feel at home.”
Many boats carrying hundreds of migrants have arrived in Vibo Marina, she explains. Many of the children who’ve stayed are “fully part of the school world. Integration is real; it’s not just words.” Faculty try to teach the students that “being together has a very important significance. It has to be built, and we try to build it together with them.”
Pope Francis prays during his Wednesday general audience in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican on April 24, 2024. / Credit: Vatican MediaACI Prensa Staff, Apr 25, 2024 / 16:10 pm (CNA).Asked during a new interview if he has any message for Vladimir Putin, the Russian president who instigated the war in Ukraine, Pope Francis stated that "a negotiated peace is better than an endless war."CBS News broadcast some excerpts April 24 from a new interview conducted by journalist Norah O'Donnell with Pope Francis at St. Martha House, the pontiff's residence in the Vatican.During the exchange, the full version of which will be released on May 19, the Holy Father reflected on world conflicts and especially on the suffering of children during wars.O'Donnell asked the Holy Father if he had any message for Vladimir Putin regarding Ukraine, to which the pontiff replied: "Please, countries at war, all of them... Stop the war. Seek to negotiate. Seek peace. A negotiated peace is better than an e...
An aerial view of Washington Square in San Francisco on May 22, 2020. / Credit: JOSH EDELSON/AFP via Getty ImagesCNA Staff, Apr 25, 2024 / 16:45 pm (CNA).San Francisco police arrested a homeless man last Sunday for allegedly stabbing a parent from a nearby Catholic school after an altercation involving the two outside a historic Catholic church in the city. Twenty-five-year-old Marko Asaulyuk of San Francisco was charged with attempted murder and eight counts of assault with a deadly weapon.The Catholic school father, who was released from the hospital Sunday, only suffered a minor injury to his leg, Father Tho Bui, pastor of Sts. Peter and Paul Church, told CNA Thursday in an email.San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone was conferring the sacrament of confirmation on the parish school's students and students from a nearby parish during a noon Mass when a "disruptive man" entered the church, as Bui described him.The man was walking up and down the main aisle of the ...
The pro-life flag from the Pro-Life Flag Project (www.prolifeflag.com). / Credit: Pro-Life Flag Project (www.prolifeflag.com)Toronto, Canada, Apr 25, 2024 / 12:50 pm (CNA).The International Pro-Life Flag will not fly over Toronto Catholic schools this May.Toronto Catholic District School Board (TCDSB) trustees voted against an April 23 motion proposed by trustee Michael Del Grande that the pro-life flag fly outside all schools and the Catholic Education Centre during the month of May, just as the board voted to fly the Pride flag in June.Del Grande's motion was defeated at the April 23 board meeting when only Garry Tanuan supported Del Grande's motion. The eight other board members in attendance and the two student trustees opposed his proposal.Though Del Grande could not muster enough backing from his colleagues, his plan, which would have also directed all TCDSB schools to teach an exclusively pro-life curriculum on May 9, the day of the National March for Life, garnered bois...