The greatness of Pompeii resides in prayer and in charity, says the Substitute for General Affairs of the Secretary of State during the traditional “Supplication”.

The “Supplication to Our Lady of Pompeii” brings together thousands of faithful from all over the world in Pompeii, Italy, every 8 May. The “Supplication” is a prayer composed by Blessed Bartolo Lungo in 1883 and is prayed in the shrine dedicated to Our Lady in this Vesuvian town. This year the celebration was presided at by Archbishop Edgar Peña Parra, Substitute for General Affairs of the Secretariat of State, who in his homily emphasized that the aim of the pilgrimage is to learn from Our Lady “the everlasting lesson of love: love of God and love of neighbour. Before the calamities and dangers that marked the life of the Church and humanity of his time, Blessed Bartolo Longo, founder of this Marian shrine, spread the devotion of the Rosary, because he saw in this Marian prayer a sure instrument to achieve good in society and in the church through works of charity”.

“The greatness of Pompeii”, he added, “resides in this double perspective: prayer and charity, as Bartolo Longo conceived it. This remains clear and incisive, despite the changing times”.

The photos of Lisa Kristine recount the Talitha Kum network’s battle against slavery

“Nuns healing hearts” is the title of the photographic exhibition to be inaugurated in the presence of the Holy Father this coming 10 May, in the atrium of the Vatican’s Paul VI Hall. The exhibition will then transfer to the seat of its organizers, the women religious of Talitha Kum, where it will be on display until 10 July 2019.

Talitha Kum, a network of consecrated life against human trafficking, celebrates its ten-year anniversary, and celebrates it not only with a campaign to raise funds for their work, which often involves risk. “Nuns healing hearts” is intended to show the true face of a hidden and unjust reality, showing the efforts, sufferings and joys of the nuns involved in this task. The American Lisa Kristine, who has documented indigenous cultures and social problems such as slavery in more than a hundred countries, is the author of the photographs with which she endeavours to transmit the powerful work carried out by the sisters of Talitha Kum all over the world. at the forefront of the battle against slavery.

Presentation of the book Navarro Valls, “El portavoz”

On 24 May, in the Holy See Press Office, the book Navarro Valls, “El portavoz”, will be presented. The volume consists of twenty testimonies by people who knew Joaquín Navarro Valls, both personally and professionally, during the 22 years in which was director of the Holy See Press Office, during the papacies of Saint John Paul II and Benedict XVI.

On the first anniversary of the death of Joaquín Navarro-Valls, who died on 5 July 2017, a number of friends decided to ask twenty people who knew him, to offer insight into his professional life, especially during the two decades in which he was in charge of the Holy See’s communication.

The volume, coordinated by Rafael Navarro-Valls, Joaquín's brother, includes testimonies by, among others, the Cardinal Archbishop of Krakow, Stanislaus Dziwisz, Secretary of John Paul II; Janne Haaland, Secretary of State of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Norway, and Ezio Mauro, director of the Italian newspaper La Stampa.

The speakers at the presentation will be Rafael Navarro-Valls; Fr. Federico Lombardi, S.J., former director of the Holy See Press Office, the former deputy director Fr. Ciro Benedettini, C.P., and the Mexican journalist Valentina Alazraki. It will be moderated by Alessandro Gisotti, interim director of the Press Office of the Holy See.