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John Paul II Foundation / News

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Magazine, News
December 23, 2024

Dearest and dearest, Thus the poet..." Silence is Christmas! Uncapitalized. In the caresses of a silent crib runs the stand of books that do not speak, of voices that do not write of alphabets that do not speak, of tools that do not serve, of instruments that do not play......" (P. Berdondini) But is it silence or is it stifled voice, annihilated by the roars of horizons frequented by ordnance that plummet on a humanity guilty only of being such? Let us try, then, to cross the border of silence so that instead the books may speak again, the voices may rise, the alphabets may line up again, the tools may be seen in their place on the shelves of artisans and the instruments finally.... beginning to play again. Merry Christmas! Yes! It is still a Merry Christmas with capital letters! Precisely because it is frontier-shelter from the spread of wars; in Ukraine, in Gaza, in Lebanon and Syria and wherever they are not called war but violence, oppression, segregation,...

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Magazine, News
November 15, 2024

With the intensification of the conflict in Gaza and the increasing difficulties of operating in Palestine, the Foundation chose to stay and intervene alongside children. Our primary thought has been to safeguard the little ones, creating a safe place for them to find relief. Even in the West Bank, children live in fear and anguish aware of the difficulties their parents have in providing for their families. Several scientific studies regarding the consequences that war has on young children have caught our attention. Children respond to the stress of armed conflict with increased anxiety, isolation, sleep disturbances and nightmares, poor appetite, learning disabilities, developmental delays and aggressive behavior. Because of the developmental stage a child is in, exposure to war-related stressors affects the formation of a personal identity and personality, the notion of what is right and...

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Magazine, News
November 8, 2024

  Father Ibrahim, it has been a year since Hamas' attack on Israel and the beginning of the war that has devastated Gaza. Did you expect such a long and devastating war? The tragic attack on October 7, 2023 unleashed a spiral of violence that still envelops the Holy Land today. In Gaza, the numbers of dead and wounded, the destruction of homes, hospitals, schools, churches and mosques have soared, and a year later they do not stop: it is a continuous war bulletin that is shockingly updated by the hour. Never would I have imagined that the war would last so long, but what worries me most is its extension to an ever larger area of the region. The war has spread from south to north; for months the West Bank and Jerusalem have been suffering from heightened tensions and the terrible consequences of violence. They have increased...

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Magazine, News
October 21, 2024

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text] A partire da ottobre 2023, le tensioni lungo il confine libanese con Israele hanno scatenato un conflitto aperto, con conseguenze devastanti per la popolazione. I bombardamenti israeliani hanno causato 589 morti e 2.000 feriti, distrutto oltre 4.000 abitazioni civili e danneggiato seriamente altre 20.000. Più di 1 milione di persone sono state costrette a lasciare le loro case e le loro attività lavorative, cercando rifugio in aree del Libano ritenute più sicure, come riportato dalle Nazioni Unite e dalle autorità libanesi. La popolazione del sud del Libano e della valle della Beqaa vive nel terrore degli attacchi e nel disagio economico dovuto alla chiusura delle attività produttive. La Fondazione, che opera nel sud del Libano dal 2016 con un progetto finanziato dall'AICS (Agenzia Italiana per la Cooperazione allo Sviluppo), sostiene le famiglie di piccoli contadini e lavoratori agricoli, puntando a rafforzare le coltivazioni di agrumi e frutta tropicale per promuovere l'economia...

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Magazine, News
October 9, 2024

"In Lebanon, the situation is very serious. After the explosion of the pagers, which affected more than 2,800 people, we are for all intents and purposes back at war." Bishop Cesar calls the new escalation of Israeli attacks in Lebanese territory a huge tragedy, highlighting how this new drama adds to the difficulties Lebanon has been facing for some time now. Nearly 1,000 dead, more than a million displaced, schools closed and stormed by internally displaced persons, all testify to the enormous suffering of an already battered people who needed no further heartbreak. "We are living through a very difficult time, and we are still unable to come to grips with it," the bishop reflects. The explosions are affecting innocent civilians, and in such a situation one cannot distinguish between people, regardless of personal opinions about Hezbollah or the conflict against Israel. The war comes in an already dramatic situation: there is the political crisis, with a state that for almost two years...

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Magazine, News
October 3, 2024

It is December 25, 2023, Christmas Day. In the mental photograph that is imprinted in everyone's head, the image that appears in our foreground is that of our family, finally reunited and happy around a set table. That same day in Zuara, off the coast of Libya, in the moments when we were laughing punctuating the time between a glass of wine and a gift to unwrap, Dylan (fictitious name for privacy reasons) was swimming through the furious waves of the sea, desperately trying to get on a barge with his children and his wife. With water at his throat and his arms raised to the sky, almost as if in prayer, he held his two- and four-year-old children aloft to protect them from the stormy sea and lead them to the boat. After a strenuous struggle against the current, Dylan managed to reach the...

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Magazine, News
September 20, 2024

On Thursday, Sept. 19, FGP2 celebrated an important milestone for a number of guests of reception centers in Tuscany: 6 of them obtained the Italian language diploma "CILS A2 Integrazione." This is a crucial step toward integration and social inclusion as it provides students with useful tools to improve their autonomy and participation in the community. The elegant and excited students celebrated with joy, showing their commitment to learning the Italian language. Special thanks went to Francesco, course leader, for his passion and dedication in leading the group. During the event, Benedetta Manocchio, founder of the "iLOL" school that made the graduations possible, thanked the students, expressing pride in their journey. She, in addition, shared a touching memory from a few years ago when she worked at the center as a teacher. During a class, the crying of an infant interrupted the course and to allow the...

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Magazine, News
September 16, 2024

On Sunday afternoon, September 15, in one of the most active neighborhoods of the Florentine capital, Isolotto, the Foundation participated in a moment of prayer and meditation on peace. The event, proposed by several Florentine parishes, extended the invitation also to other denominations and lay realities in the city, committed to pursuing a peace that starts from the "I. In turn, speakers urged accountability through thoughts and reflections. Several references were made to the armaments sector, always a sensitive issue to address but one that has reached record numbers in terms of market and production that are no longer negligible. In fact, there are nearly 60 wars going on in the world today, never so many since the end of World War II. In the wake of this, FGP2 reported the direct testimony of Father Ibrahim Faltas, a member of our BOD, who for years has been working on the front lines in the Holy Land for a definitive peace...

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Press Releases, Magazine, News
September 3, 2024

Florence, Sept. 3, 2024 The John Paul II Foundation joins the initiative promoted by some Florentine parishes to call for peace, "If you want peace, prepare peace." We reproduce the poster that the communities have prepared to invite everyone to Isolotto for Sunday, September 15. The John Paul II Foundation, which has been working in the Middle East for more than twenty-five years, joins the invitation to participate in the prayer meeting for peace, promoted by some Florentine parishes, for Sunday, September 15 in the Isolotto square in Florence. The Foundation fully endorses what the parish communities wrote, "Peace will never be the fruit of distrust, the fruit of walls, of weapons pointed at one another. St. Paul says, "Each one will reap what he has sown" (Gal 6:7). Brothers and sisters, our civilizations right now are sowing destruction, fear. Let us, brothers and sisters, sow hope! Let us be sowers of hope" (Pope Francis). Pope Francis was one of the first to declare that...

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