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PRESIDENT CAPASSO AT THE PREVIEW OF THE “MUSICANTE AWARD”
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10 September 2025
President Michele Capasso visited the RAI studios in Via Asiago, where the final round of the 2025 “Musicante Award”, dedicated to Pino Daniele, is taking place. Welcomed by his son Alessandro, he expressed his appreciation for this initiative, which promotes young musical talent.
THE VATICAN WELCOMES THE MADONNA OF LUJÁN
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09 September 2025
A truly unforgettable moment! On 9 September, in the Vatican Gardens, the beautiful mosaic of the Madonna of Luján, a masterpiece by Argentine artist Florencia Delucchi, was unveiled, created thanks to the support of benefactors. The ceremony, attended by Cardinal Parolin, Cardinal Sandri and the Argentine Ambassador, brought together art, culture and spirituality.
In 2008, in Luján, President Michele Capasso met the then Cardinal Bergoglio, later Pope Francis, for the first time.
A great moment.
THE CHAPEL OF THE MUSEUM OF PEACE DEDICATED TO SAINT CARLO ACUTIS
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08 September 2025
Following the canonisation of Saint Carlo Acutis, which saw thousands of people from all over the world gather in Rome, the Museum of Peace dedicated a chapel to the saint of young people, containing the relic donated by his mother Antonia Salzano, on the occasion of the awarding of the title of “Ambassador of the United States of the World” to his memory.
The Chapel is a destination for prayers by faithful from all over the world.
CANONISATION OF CARLO ACUTIS AND PIER GIORGIO FRASSATI
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07 September 2025
A delegation from the “United States of the World” and the “Fondazione Mediterraneo”, led by Michele Capasso and Pia Molinari, attended the solemn ceremony for the canonisation of Carlo Acutis and Pier Giorgio Frassati.
Tens of thousands of people attended the ceremony, celebrated by Pope Leone XIV. Among them were the President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella, the President of the Chamber of Deputies Lorenzo Fontana, the Undersecretary to the Presidency of the Council Alfredo Mantovano, and Pier Ferdinando Casini.
Frassati, from Turin, died in 1925 at the age of 24. He was a faithful Dominican layman known for his work helping the sick and poor. Of the two new saints, however, the most famous is undoubtedly Carlo Acutis: born in London but Italian, he died in 2006 of leukaemia at the age of just 15. Even before becoming a saint, he had already become very popular and a cult of considerable size had formed around him, even outside Italy. He is much talked about because he is the first saint of the generation of people born between the 1980s and 1990s, and because he has long been referred to as a future “patron saint” of the Internet. The reason for this is that he was an avid user of digital tools during his lifetime. Another much-discussed aspect of Acutis's figure is his remains, dressed in ordinary clothes: jeans, a sweatshirt and trainers. His body is preserved in the Sanctuary of the Spoliation, located in the Church of Santa Maria Maggiore in Assisi, another place where his devotees have gathered today.
Acutis was declared a “Servant of God” in 2018 (the title given by the Catholic Church to the faithful for whom a cause for beatification and canonisation has been initiated). In 2020, he was declared “Blessed” and finally recognised as the intercessor for at least two miracles, thus allowing him to meet the conditions necessary for sainthood, which was then authorised by Pope Francis. The process that led to his sainthood was exceptionally rapid.
Carlo Acutis received the title of “Ambassador of the United States of the World” on 30 June 2023.
SERENA BRANCALE VISITS THE MUSEUM OF PEACE MAMT
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05 September 2025
Artist and singer Serena Brancale visited the Museum of Peace MAMT and the section dedicated to Pino Daniele, performing some of the Neapolitan musician's songs.
Welcomed by President Michele Capasso, she expressed her appreciation for the site, a World Heritage Site.
APPEAL TO ITALIAN INSTITUTIONS, CITIZENS AND BELIEVERS IN ITALY
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29 August 2025
The “United States of the World” – representing 181 countries and 16,000 civil society organisations – together with the autonomous sections “Fondazione Mediterraneo” and “Kimiyya”, support the “Appeal to Italian institutions, citizens and believers in Italy” proposed on 29 August by:
- UCEI (President Noemi Di Segni);
- CEI (President Cardinal Matteo Maria Zuppi);
- COREIS (President Abu Bakr Moretta and Imam Yahya Pallavicini);
- Mosque of Rome (President Naim Nasrollah);
- UCOII (President Yassine Laframe).
The appeal stems from the conviction that there is an urgent need to encourage any initiative that promotes dialogue in order to stem hatred, safeguard coexistence, purify language and weave peace. This is the responsibility of individuals and collective entities.
"It is an appeal that expresses how much we have in common, said Secretary-General Michele Capasso, put to the test by what is happening, but with the certainty that dialogue must find solutions to what humiliates our faiths and resist".
The appeal is open to all who share this common concern that generates shared responsibility, setting aside, in this document, what divides us, to strengthen what unites us, in a common effort to understand each other's pain and reasons, generating a renewed commitment to find just and lasting solutions for all.
46TH EDITION OF THE MEETING FOR FRIENDSHIP AMONG PEOPLES
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27 August 2025
6th edition of the Meeting for Friendship Among Peoples A delegation from the "United States of the World" and the "Fondazione Mediterraneo" participated in the "46th edition of the Meeting for Friendship Among Peoples".
In particular, in the ISYbank D3 Auditorium, broadcast live on askanews, Famiglia Cristiana, Rai News, Telepace Verona, Teleradiopace and Vatican News, a meeting entitled "New Saints" was held, which closed the 46th edition of the Meeting for Friendship Among Peoples. The panel included Paolo Asolan, professor of fundamental pastoral theology and dean of the Pontifical Pastoral Institute Redemptor Hominis (Pontifical Lateran University); Marco Cesare Giorgio, president of the Pier Giorgio Frassati Cultural Centre; His Excellency Monsignor Domenico Sorrentino, Archbishop-Bishop of Assisi-Nocera Umbra-Gualdo Tadino and Foligno. The meeting was moderated by Bernhard Scholz, president of the Meeting. A video interview with Antonia Salzano, mother of Blessed Carlo Acutis, was also shown, in view of his canonisation scheduled for 7 September in Rome.
"They are new saints because they were not monks or consecrated persons, but saints who lived normal lives of school, work and friendships,’ explained Secretary-General Michele Capasso, continuing: "Too often we think that holiness requires special conditions. Here, however, we discover that the extraordinary can be lived within the ordinary." The immediate reference was to Carlo Acutis, the ‘cyber-apostle of the Eucharist," the first millennial to be elevated to the honours of the altar and the first "Ambassador of the United States to the World", a title given by his mother, Antonia Salzano, who, in a video message to the meeting, said:
"Carlo brought the extraordinary into the ordinary. He is a role model because he tells us that holiness is for everyone. From childhood, he chose to be faithful to Jesus. He went to Mass every day, adored the Eucharist, and recited the rosary. But he was not out of touch with the world: he studied, played, played sports, and was friendly and ironic. Carlo taught us to value time, saying that time is a gift and should not be wasted. Every daily choice has eternal consequences. We must live seriously, without wasting our lives."
His mother recounted his infectious joy: Carlo made me laugh. Even in the face of illness, he never lost his smile. When they told him he had leukaemia, he said, "The Lord has given me an alarm clock”. He was not afraid of death, but of sin. She explained her son's worldwide fame: "Immediately after his death, prayers and graces began".
THE 75TH NATIONAL LITURGICAL WEEK IN NAPLES
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25 August 2025
The Church of Naples hosted the 75th National Liturgical Week during the Jubilee Year 2025. It was inaugurated by Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Secretary of State of His Holiness Pope Leo XIV.
At the closing ceremony, Cardinal Don Mimmo Battaglia shared with those present the greeting of Father Gabriel Romanelli, parish priest of the Latin community in Gaza, which he heard before participating in the Week's proceedings.
The priest wanted to convey his spiritual closeness to the participants, emphasising the strength that the Christian community in Gaza receives from prayer:
"What I will now suffer with my children and my friends is the reality that I continue to live with my people. We truly feel the work of God, the grace of God, which continues to beat at the door of our hearts and helps us to make sense of everything we are experiencing".
Romanelli added: "Prayer is giving us courage, prayer is giving us strength, prayer is also giving us serenity. And we are feeling it coming, like a support that accompanies us in our difficulties".
Cardinal Battaglia made this appeal, recalling that "precisely in the darkness of suffering, prayer becomes light and the liturgy becomes a force that consoles and sustains".
In his concluding reflection, Battaglia gave the participants a symbolic number: 10.
"It is the number of verbs in the Magnificat, - he explained, - the song of the Mother of God that marks the true revolution in history: He has looked upon the humility of his servant, he has done great things in her, he has shown the power of his arm, he has scattered the proud, he has brought down the powerful from their thrones, he has lifted up the lowly, he has filled the hungry with good things, he has sent the rich away empty-handed, he has come to the aid of his servant Israel, he has remembered his mercy".
But the Cardinal recalled that the parable of the Good Samaritan also contains ten verbs that orient us towards action: "He saw him, he had compassion on him, he drew near, he poured oil and wine on his wounds, he lifted him onto his donkey, he took him to the inn, he cared for him, he paid for him, he promised to return, and he kept his promise.
These are the verbs of concrete love, which focus on the pain of others. Compassion is not an instinct, it is an achievement".
According to Battaglia, these two Gospel references show the way: "The number 10 brings together contemplation and action. The Magnificat invites us to contemplate the wonders of God, the Samaritan urges us to act with concrete love. This is how the Gospel continues to write new pages of history today. Go and do likewise".
In closing, Battaglia thanked Cal for choosing "Naples, for having lived this experience within the Church of Naples, inhabiting its territory. Naples thanks you from the bottom of its heart".
Some participants visited the Peace Museum and the section dedicated to Pope Francis.
CONDOLENCES FOR THE DEATH OF PIPPO BAUDO
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16 August 2025
The President, Secretary-General and all members of the "United States of the World" and the "Mediterranean Foundation" express their deepest condolences for the death of Pippo Baudo and remember his tireless fight against the Mafia and crime.
CARDINAL ZUPPI READS THE NAMES OF PALESTINIAN AND ISRAELI CHILDREN KILLED IN THE CONFLICT
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14 August 2025
A delegation from the “United States of the World” and the “Mediterranean Foundation” took part in an initiative organised by Cardinal Matteo Maria Zuppi, Archbishop of Bologna and President of the Italian Episcopal Conference: the reading - in a highly symbolic location, the scene of the Nazi massacre - of 12,000 names belonging to the 16 Israeli victims under the age of 12 killed by Hamas in the pogrom of 7 October 2023 and the more than 12,000 killed by the Israeli army during the almost two years of genocide in Gaza.
'Ours is an invocation,“ said Cardinal Zuppi, 'we are not entering into the merits of the case, we are facing a greater pain. The absurdity of what is happening is now evident”.
‘For this moment of prayer and reading, we have chosen the place where a tragedy took place, a place close to all those bathed in the blood of Abel,’ said Cardinal Zuppi.
More than 12,000 names were read, taking official data from Israel and Gaza.
"We want to remember each name individually to rescue them from anonymity. No one is a number; every person has a name, an identity. The suffering of children speaks volumes about the dramatic consequences of war and the need to achieve a ceasefire, to end the conflict without causing further innocent victims. As Dostoevsky wrote, “no war can ever be worth even a single child's tear”," concludes Zuppi.
Cardinal Matteo Zuppi opens the relay of 12,000 names of young Israeli and Palestinian victims in the church of Casaglia in Monte Sole, the site of the 1944 massacre, with the monks of the Small Family of Annunziata.