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THE FOUNDATION LAUNCHES AN APPEAL FOR PEACE IN UKRAINE AND FOR THE UNITED STATES OF EUROPE AND THE UNITED STATES OF THE WORLD
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27 February 2022
The Fondazione Mediterraneo has launched an international appeal for peace in Ukraine and for the establishment of a United States of Europe and a United States of the World. President Michele Capasso said he was appalled by this war in the heart of Europe and that "more than 30 years of peace-building efforts seem to have been in vain". "One of the reasons," said President Capasso, "is to be found in the unpreparedness of the ruling and political classes in Europe and, in general, in the rest of the world".
The appeal highlights "a UN unsuited to the changes in our world with bureaucratic rules and vetoes that prevent real peace action; a NATO that is still a prisoner of archaic defence models; a European Union that cares so little about the rest of Europe except for economic needs and following the law of markets and merchants; a Russia that is trying to take over the place of the former Soviet Union using force and violence and all the games barely disguised by the great powers and their interests".
The Appeal concludes with a condemnation of what is happening and the following demands:
"Let us again throw a bottle into our sea with a common appeal, intended for what remains of conscience on our shores. We address these words to our friends in Europe, the Mediterranean and the world to ask them to join us and support us.
Therefore:
- We condemn any military attack on Ukraine and denounce that war not only does not solve problems but increases them both in Ukraine and in Europe, in Russia itself and in the rest of the world.
- We condemn those who ignore the will of the Ukrainian people, including by trying to remove a government democratically elected by the people to create disaffection between the real and legal country.
- We call on the government of the United States of America and the governments of the European Union to demand forcefully and by all democratic means respect for international law, especially the Geneva Convention and the UN Charter.
- We call on the government of Russia, a country with ancient traditions of culture and civilisation, to respect human rights and to accept the demands for democracy expressed by its people towards all and, in particular, towards a 'brother' country: Ukraine.
The governments of the West, just as they were silent when the holocaust of the Jews was being prepared and perpetrated, are now prevaricating with sanctions, even if they are strict, while waiting for the victor - when the fighting is over - to give them the appearance of having brokered peace.
It is up to civil society to rise up and say STOP! STOP the slaughter of innocents!"
TO JOIN THE APPEAL SEND AN EMAIL TO: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
FOR INFO: www.fondazionemediterraneo.org
MEDITERRANEAN FRONTIER OF PEACE 2
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23 February 2022
The second edition of "Mediterranean Frontier of Peace" was held in Florence. It was organised by the Italian Episcopal Conference (CEI) together with the Municipality of Florence, which jointly organised a meeting of Mediterranean Mayors in the footsteps of Giorgio La Pira.
"That experienced by the mayors and bishops of the Mediterranean is an important moment - said the President of the Foundation Michele Capasso, who has been committed to Peace in the Mediterranean for thirty years when few paid attention to the region - and these days in which mayors, prelates, experts and volunteers were able to compare notes and listen is a significant act just when in Ukraine an atrocious war is looming in the heart of Europe, on the borders of the Mediterranean".
President Capasso recalled the friendship between his father Raffaele (Mayor of San Sebastiano al Vesuvio) and Giorgio La Pira, his meeting - while still a teenager - with the visionary Mayor who left an indelible mark on his education.
"Cardinal Bassetti, president of the Italian Episcopal Conference, said: "By coming together and listening to each other, mayors and bishops signed a common declaration, 'The Charter of Florence', in which points emerged that are close to everyone's heart, regardless of their different worldviews and religions. A marvellous fact while a crazy war is going on in Ukraine bringing death and destruction". "But the clock of history does not want to stop its hands in Florence", continued Cardinal Bassetti, "on the contrary, it wants the hour of peace and dialogue to resound continuously".
The Italian Bishops' Conference president then turned his thoughts to Giorgio La Pira, who was mayor of Florence in the early 1960s and who saw the Mediterranean as "a sea that unites and does not divide", "the 'great lake of Tiberias' overlooked by the civilisations that belong to the 'triple family of Abraham'". For Cardinal Bassetti, the encounter between these civilisations "can change the history not only of the Mediterranean, but of the entire world". Let me tell you," the cardinal declared energetically, "God has called us here in Florence against all adversity, against all difficulties, against all wars. And quoting La Pira again, the cardinal stressed the need to break down walls and build bridges between the Mediterranean peoples, to "unite what has been divided for centuries", to unite, in the name of human brotherhood, as the Pope stated in the Abu Dhabi document, to unite for peace.
Lastly, Cardinal Bassetti thanked the mayors and bishops for the "wonderful work" they have done in recent days that has given rise to the "Florence Charter", inviting them to take the document to their cities, schools, religious communities and parishes, to spread it, to disseminate it, but above all to embody it. For the Cardinal, this Charter is the testimony that there is a Mediterranean conscience, "it is a social pact, a pact of friendship". "The Florence Charter is truly a ray of sunshine at a time when all around us we hear the sound of weapons and there seems to be so much darkness.
The full text of Cardinal Bassetti's speech, published on the Italian Bishops' Conference website, recalls the sad definition that Pope Francis has repeatedly given of the Mediterranean Sea: "the largest cemetery in Europe". In recent years, thousands of men, women and children have lost their lives crossing this sea in search of a better life or fleeing a war," the cardinal remarked. "This dramatic emergency deeply challenges us as Christians and as human beings. We cannot remain indifferent to the great migratory flow that has been characterising the Mediterranean for some time now. We must therefore come to the rescue and help". For the president of the Italian Bishops' Conference, it is also necessary to see migration "not just as a problem but as a great opportunity. An opportunity to transform our cities into places of welcome and hospitality". But Cardinal Bassetti also highlighted the other emergency that is shaking the world, "the dramatic news and the even more disturbing images coming from Ukraine", which tell of a new "humanitarian tragedy". "My thoughts and prayers go out to all those people who are now in underground shelters and to those who are fleeing," confided Cardinal Bassetti, who launched an appeal "to all those who are fighting": "I would like to use the simple words of an old priest: please, I beg you, stop! In the name of God, no to war!"
THE MAMT PEACE MUSEUM IS EQUIPPED WITH TACTILE REPRODUCTIONS FOR THE BLIND
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21 February 2022
Thanks to ten thousand euro made available by supporters, the Fondazione Mediterraneo, with the free contribution of volunteers and collaborators, has produced the first 10 plaques of tactile reproductions of works of art with Braille transcoding, enabling the most significant works to be enjoyed by blind and disabled people.
The Foundation's hope is that more substantial resources can be found to continue the elimination of sensory and cognitive barriers and to continue this action with the more than 2000 works of art in the museum.
ANNIVERSARIES AT THE MUSEUM: IN MEMORY OF SISTER MARIA PIA GIUDICI ON THE SECOND ANNIVERSARY OF HER DEATH
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20 February 2022
At the Museum of Peace - MAMT we remembered Sister Maria Pia Giudici on the second anniversary of her death. Pictures, poems, paintings, books, interviews and much more on the large video walls of the Museum recounted the long life of a religious who made the Gospel and love for Jesus the foundation of her existence.
President Michele Capasso was moved to tears as he recalled his long friendship with Sister Maria Pia and the example of a simple life in joy, well summed up in the film "MARIA PIA GIUDICI: THE JOY IN A SIMPLE LIFE".
In connection with the San Biagio House of Prayer (Subiaco) there was a touching moment of collective remembrance that ended with the intervention of Bishop Giovanni Giudici, Sister Maria Pia's nephew.
On this occasion the visits of Sister Maria Pia to the Don Bosco Museum and Chapel were recalled.
ANNIVERSARIES AT THE MUSEUM: 124 YEARS SINCE THE BIRTH OF ANTONIO DE CURTIS (alias Totò)
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15 February 2022
Special visits today to the Museum of Peace - MAMT dedicated to the emotional journey "Antonio De Curtis prince poet". The occasion is the 124th anniversary of the birth of the great artist who left his mark on history. His granddaughter Elena remembers him thus:
"Today my grandfather would have been 124 years old and a question comes to mind: An adjective to describe your grandfather?
Answer: I would say that one adjective would not be enough to describe a basically complex and contradictory man. A lover of life, but a hypochondriac. Sensitive, empathetic, sincere, introverted, womanizer, romantic, misanthrope, thinker, curious, affectionate father, humble, shy, elegant, reserved, generous. In short, I would define him as a democratic prince (I borrow the definition given by Prof. Luigi Caramiello, which I would say fits him perfectly).
Totò aroused the "smile" as well as laughter. The smile is deeper and makes us reflect. He represents the oxymoron par excellence. His biography is a piece of sublime humour, completely voluntary, conscious, deliberate.
A beggar who was also a gentleman, a lazar who was also an aristocrat. He was everything and the opposite of everything. He represented the most authentic and profound character of his city. All the people loved him and continue to love him. Everyone recognises him as a brother, because he showed the nobles how much better the poor people could be, and he showed the "lazzari" how one can be noble in spirit and have the art of living like a true gentleman. Grandfather lived an authentic life and left traces that will remain impressed in our memory.
This reflection is the result of notes collected over time from newspapers and books, so I would like to thank all the Totoisti and give my grandfather a caress saying: I love you very much.
AT THE PEACE MUSEUM THE CELEBRATIONS FOR THE MADONNA OF LOURDES
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11 February 2022
In the Don Bosco Chapel and in the other sacred places of the Museum celebrations of Our Lady of Lourdes on the anniversary of the apparition of 11 February 1858.
On the large video walls of the Museum there will be live connections with the Sanctuary for the recitation of the Holy Rosary and the Holy Mass.
FROM JAPAN: INVESTIGATING THE IMMUNE SYSTEM TO COMBAT COVID 19
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11 February 2022
The Fondazione Mediterraneo - with authoritative members of the Scientific Committee (first and foremost Prof. Corrado Perricone) - continues its meticulous action of investigation and information on the evolution of Covid 19 and on treatments to reduce its harmful effects.
Started in February 2020, this initiative of the Fondazione Mediterraneo is taking on concrete importance as it becomes a point of reference, especially in the countries of the Southern Shore of the Mediterranean.
In recent days, members of the Foundation invited to Japan have stressed the importance of knowledge of the immune system in order to manage treatment and anti-Covid 19 vaccines, especially Novavax, in a more analytical and "ad personam" manner. This is summarised in the article published in various newspapers today.
THE MUSEUM CELEBRATES THE SECOND INTERNATIONAL DAY OF HUMAN BROTHERHOOD
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04 February 2022
The "Second International Day of Human Brotherhood", established by the UN General Assembly after the historic meeting in Dubai between Pope Francis and the Grand Imam of Cairo Ahmad Al-Tayyeb, was celebrated at the Museum of Peace - MAMT.
President of the Fondazione Mediterraneo Michele Capasso summarised the Holy Father's message and emphasised how the human and spiritual charisma of Pope Francis was united in a historic embrace in Dubai with that of the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, Ahmad Al-Tayyeb, recalling the meeting between St Francis and the Sultan of Egypt Malik al Kamel in Damietta, which opened the way for dialogue centuries later.
"The meeting, which took place from 3 to 5 February 2019," Capasso said, "was full of significance: the first time of Pope Francis' visit to the Arab Emirates, but also the first Pope in history".
On 4 February 2019, during the Holy Father's trip to the United Arab Emirates, Pope Francis and the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar (Cairo), Ahmad Al-Tayyeb, signed the Document on Human Brotherhood for Peace, which also gave rise to the International Day of Brotherhood called by the UN for 4 February.
"Remembering this celebration - concluded Capasso - means carrying it in our hearts and we are called to live it in the first person, letting the spirit of respect, dialogue, tolerance and fraternity prevail, to face the great world crisis, and in our own small way, we must bring hope and suitable, innovative and effective tools to get out, as brothers, from this prolonged pandemic, a real challenge for humanity!
Everyone, without distinction, has been affected, and if on the one hand the pandemic has put us all on the same level, without any religious or political differences, on the other hand it has increased poverty in many peoples, it has allowed wars and abuses of power to continue on their way, at the expense of poor people, sometimes claiming a religious war that does not exist, but is dictated only by the logic of power".
THE FOUNDATION CONGRATULATES PRESIDENT MATTARELLA ON HIS RE-ELECTION
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31 January 2022
President Michele Capasso, the members of the Governing Board, the members of the International Scientific Committee and the representatives of the detached offices in the various countries express their satisfaction with the re-election of Sergio Mattarella as President of the Italian Republic.
In particular, the support from the beginning of his first mandate for the Mediterranean Foundation and the irreplaceable values of freedom, democracy and social justice was emphasised.
FEAST OF SAN GIOVANNI BOSCO AT THE MUSEUM OF PEACE
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31 January 2022
On the occasion of the Feast dedicated to St John Bosco - in compliance with the anti-Covid 19 regulations - numerous initiatives were held at the Museum of Peace: meetings of youth groups, visits to the emotional paths dedicated to Don Bosco, common prayers in the Chapel with the relics of Don Bosco and Mother Mazzarello.
On this occasion a Holy Mass was celebrated with a moment of prayer and reflection on Don Bosco's work for young people.
President Michele Capasso recalled the significant moments of the establishment of the WORLD SALESIAN ORATORY with the visits of the Rector Major Don Angel Fernandez Artime and the Mother Superior of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians Yvonne Reungoat.