Dear brothers and sisters, buongiorno!

Last Wednesday, with the penitential rite of the ashes, we began our Lenten journey. Today, the first Sunday of this liturgical season, the Word of God shows us the path to living fruitfully the forty days that lead to the annual celebration of Easter. It is the way Jesus trod, which the Gospel, with Mark’s essential style, summarises by saying that before He began His preaching, He withdrew into the desert for forty days, where He was tempted by Satan (see 1:12-15)… Read more »

Yesterday evening, the Holy Father provided his nulla osta to the 2021 Budget of the Holy See, proposed by the Secretariat for the Economy and approved last Tuesday, February 16th, by the Council for the Economy.

With total revenues of € 260.4M and expenses of € 310.1M, the Holy See expects a deficit of € 49.7M in 2021, heavily impacted by the economic crisis generated by the COVID-19 pandemic… Read more »

Stqarrija minn Caritas Malta, Fondazzjoni Oasi, Aġenzija Sedqa u l-Assoċjazzjoni tal-Psikjatrija f’Malta dwar l-użu tal-kannabis u implikazzjonijiet għal-liġi:

Żviluppi pożittivi

• L-ESPAD (Sedqa, 2019) qed jindika li 12% ta’ adolexxenti ta’ 15-il sena qalu li ppruvaw il-kannabis f’ħajjithom. Din ir-rata baqgħet stabbli mill-2015. Pjuttost kien hemm tnaqqis żgħir. Din ir-rata hi ferm aktar baxxa mill-medja Ewropea. Dan jawgura tajjeb u jindika li meta l-policy dwar l-użu personali tal-kannabis ma nbidlitx, inżammet stabbilita…

Read more »

A shipment of Covid-19 vaccines in the cargo hold of a plane  (ANSA)

At least ten international airlines signed up for UNICEF’s Humanitarian Airfreight initiative aimed at prioritizing the delivery of Covid-19 vaccines, essential medicines, medical devices, and other supplies to lower-income countries.

Announcing this development in a statement issued on Tuesday, UNICEF said the humanitarian initiative will act as a “global logistics preparedness mechanism for other humanitarian and health crises over the long term.”

The UN Children’s Fund launched the initiative in February, in collaboration with leading airlines, to respond to the ongoing pandemic and to support vaccination campaigns in countries, regardless of their income level… Read more »

Pope Francis’ motu proprio Recante modifiche in materia di giustizia (“Introducing modifications in the area of justice”), published on Tuesday, provides for reduction of sentences, the possibility of agreeing on a programme of community service and voluntary work, and suspension of trials in cases of legitimate impediment on the part of the defendant. The new regulations update the criminal justice system of Vatican state and remodels norms in order to respond to the needs of the times and establishes procedures for penalties aimed at the rehabilitation of offenders… Read more »

The United Nations proclaimed 13 February as World Radio Day in 2011, making this the 10th iteration of the annual event.

Saturday’s celebration comes one day after Vatican Radio marked the 90th anniversary of its inauguration by Pope Pius XI in 1931. The first commercially-viable radio system was invented by Guglielmo Marconi, who went on to set up the Pope’s Radio.

Pope Francis got in on the action by tweeting his support for this medium of communication… Read more »