RADIO VATICANA REPORT: On Easter Sunday within the
walls of a juvenile detention centre in Rome by the name of ‘Casal di Marmo’
which houses roughly 50 young people, a 6 and a half feet chocolate egg stood
tall.Hand decorated, it sported the coat of arms of Benedict XVI.
Simply because the Easter egg had been a gift to him on the part of the representatives of a Chocolate Factory from Cremona in the North of Italy.
It had been personally presented to him on Wednesday 4th of April in Saint Peter's Square , following the weekly General Audience. And a day later, it was Holy Thursday, it was already no longer within Vatican walls but delivered behind bars to the detention centre and placed within its Chapel walls.
A Chapel this where the Pope had once prayed on a visit there back in March 2007, during which he had celebrated mass with the detainees in the gym. Speaking to them during the homily of the Parable of the “Prodigal Son”. Explaining how “freedom when it is interpreted as doing as much as I want or living for myself” is not right and that life brings more satisfaction when lived for others.
On that occasion Benedict XVI put a personal touch to the event individually giving each young detainee, a blessing and a rosary.
Vatican officials promote a new Forum for Culture and Development in AfricaRADIO VATICANA REPORT:
An ecclesiastical Forum for culture and development involving African representatives of culture and providing a bridge for the Vatican’s Pontifical Council for Culture, is just one of the projects on the table aiming to strengthen ties and further collaboration between the Dicastery and the Church in Africa.
This project was recently under discussion at the Pontifical Council for Culture during a day-long reception for the Ambassadors to the Holy See from Africa.
As Father Theo Mascarenhas explained to Linda Bordoni, the successful initiative follows in the wake of a reception last hear for Ambassadors to the Holy See from the Asian Continent in a bid to further and promote intercultural dialogue between the various countries and the Council.
He says that in that occasion there was a very good response with Ambassadors or representatives from twenty-two countries attending.
So, Father Mascarenhas says, in continuation of the objective of carrying forward cooperation between the Pontifical Council for Culture and many of the countries that are geographically distant from the Vatican, the Dicastery organized on March 22, a meeting of Ambassadors from the African continent to the Holy See.
He illustrated the programme which was held in three different parts and at more than one venue.
The first part of the day was devoted to a detailed presentation of Dicastery by the President Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi and the Secretary of the Council Bishop Barthélemy Adoukonou who comes from Benin.
After the presentation, the Ambassadors had the chance to intervene and express their opinion and make their proposals for collaboration.
The group then was then taken on a guided tour of the Temple of Hadrian which hosts Rome’s Chamber of Commerce, sponsor of the event.
During the last part of the programme, the diplomats were taken visit to the Auditorium Parco della Musica, Rome’s main auditorium built on a project by architect Renzo Piano.
The event, Father Mascarenhas explains, intends to strengthen further the ties between the embassies and the Dicastery and to evolve new ways for cultural cooperation.
SOURCE: RADIO VATICANA
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