By Giada Aquilino

“It is simply a very beautiful way to feel part of the visit His Holiness is about to make to Peru,” says Silvia Alayo, executive secretary of the Commission for Social Action of the Peruvian Bishops’ Conference, as she describes the latest initiative at Chorrillos Women’s Penitentiary in Lima.

Pope Leo XIV’s upcoming apostolic journey will take him to Uruguay, Argentina and Peru from Nov 6 to 17, and as part of a state-run reintegration project and in anticipation of Pope Leo’s visit to their country, inmates are sewing velvet dolls depicting the Pope and making rosaries, necklaces and other items to be sold outside the prison.

Facilitating reintegration and rehabilitation

“This is an initiative under Peru’s ‘Productive Prisons’ program,” explains Alayo, whose Commission also oversees prison ministry. The program is a public policy initiative involving the country’s prison system and the private sector, aimed at facilitating the social reintegration and rehabilitation of people deprived of their liberty through work.

In practice, it provides “an opportunity for vocational training, but also for employment within the prison,” which is essential to “achieving the purpose of a prison sentence.”

As Church, Alayo observes, “we greatly appreciate and support this state initiative, which emerged over the past six to eight years but builds on the experience of prison production workshops, where the Church had already begun working decades ago.”

A way to support families

With just days to go before Pope Leo XIV arrives in Peru, the rhythmic tapping of sewing machines and the sound of scissors mark the days behind the steel bars of Chorrillos for 78 inmates. For the women, this work offers a mental escape and a way to support their families from a distance, while trying to maintain close ties, especially with their children.

“We may not be physically with them, but we are there in spirit and in our hearts,” one inmate told Reuters news agency.

Critical detention conditions

“In Peru, we have a prison population of nearly 107,000,” Alayo continues. “The country has 69 prisons, where detention conditions are extremely critical because of the current level of overcrowding. Nationwide, the rate stands at around 154%.”

Women account for approximately 5% of the total prison population, and there are very few facilities exclusively for women, most of which are concentrated in Lima.

In February this year, Chorrillos prison housed more than 1,500 people across two facilities, one of which is a maximum-security unit. Its original capacity was just over 700.

Overcrowding, Alayo adds, is “not just an infrastructure problem.” It also affects “the dignity, health and coexistence of inmates, as well as their real opportunities for social reintegration.”

The offences for which women are imprisoned include various crimes against property. “There is theft and aggravated theft,” says the executive secretary of the bishops’ Commission for Social Action, “but the most common offence is drug trafficking.”

As in the rest of Latin America, she explains, there is a phenomenon known as the “feminisation” of these crimes, as a large proportion of women in prison are serving sentences for drug-related offences.

“When we examine their cases — and I stress that this is not intended to justify the crime, but to shed light on the circumstances of the women in prison — we find that they have become involved out of necessity, perhaps because they are the heads of their households, or for emotional reasons, because their partners belong to violent or criminal circles.”

The Church’s commitment

In this context, the Church’s commitment has two dimensions. “On the one hand, there is spiritual and faith-based accompaniment, helping people discover the meaning of life through the transcendent,” Alayo explains.

“On the other, there is the promotion of the whole person, including access to work, not only for its therapeutic value but also based on recognising the right to work of people deprived of their liberty.”

Over many years of accompanying and supporting inmates, the Church has gained experience in vocational training programs and production workshops making toys, ceramics, clothing and shoes. These activities enable people, particularly women, to provide for their families even while in prison.

“Many of our prison ministry groups work with the National Penitentiary Institute, which is responsible for managing the prisons, helping connect it with business owners seeking skilled workers who can contribute to the growth of their companies,” Alayo adds.

There are also “parishes that commission the production of crosses, rosaries and T-shirts for the young people involved in their pastoral activities.”

Joy for the Pope’s visit

As the Pope’s visit approaches, there is considerable excitement, Alayo says, adding that “There is great affection for our Pope Leo XIV. We consider him one of us.”

On Aug 24, 2015, he was granted Peruvian citizenship through naturalisation.

“He is very well known and loved here. The women in prison, particularly those at Chorrillos but not only them, want to feel that they are part of his visit in some way. So they are making dolls, rosaries, mugs and T-shirts bearing the Pope’s image. It is a way of feeling free to welcome the Pontiff.”

When he was elected Pope, “letters were written to Pope Leo XIV at Chorrillos prison, Masses of thanksgiving were celebrated and poems were composed. Then, when it became known that the Holy Father would be coming to Peru, there was immense joy,” accompanied by prayers for his health.

One inmate, Milagros, expressed her certainty that in Lima, “his spirit will reach them” all the way to Chorrillos.

“We will continue to pray for him,” she said, “and to feel that we are brothers and sisters of our Peruvian Pope.” – Vatican News

By Antonella Palermo

Pope Leo XIV’s visit to Cusco, Peru, at an altitude of 3,400 metres, on Sunday Nov 15, during his upcoming apostolic visit to Peru will be brief but intense. Speaking ahead of the journey that is scheduled to unfold from Nov 11 – 16, taking him from Uruguay to Argentina, to Peru, Father Walter Corsini, Vicar General of the Missionary Servants of the Poor, shares his testimony with Vatican News.

During a visit to Rome, Father Corsini recounts how his vocation began 30 years ago, during what was, for many at the time, truly “the journey of a lifetime.” A priest originally from the province of Bergamo in northern Italy, he speaks of the extraordinary richness of a millennia-old civilisation, the effort required to cover every metre of the mountainous terrain, and the beauty of a natural environment that calls for respect and contemplation.

Father Corsini, what is the story behind your religious congregation?

Our community traces its roots to an Augustinian priest, Father Giovanni Salerno, who was originally from Sicily and died three years ago. He went to Peru in 1968. The story of this new missionary family began in the mid-1980s, with a particular commitment to evangelisation and education in impoverished communities, initially in the Andes themselves.

Over time, we extended our mission to southern Peru, Mexico and Cuba. We are a family comprising several different vocations: priests, consecrated brothers, contemplatives, religious sisters and missionary families. Inspired by the Second Vatican Council, each member brings the light of Christ to different forms of poverty, illuminating them while also recognising their own poverty. We walk together in a spirit of synodality so that we can support one another.

What forms of poverty do people experience in Cusco?

With globalisation, the forms of poverty are much the same throughout the world. But I always say that poverty is like cherries: one leads to another. There is basic material poverty, which also entails a lack of resources, limited access to education and intellectual development, and, in many families, a poverty of social relationships and a moral poverty.

The task, then, is to bring the light of Christ to this underlying spiritual poverty, so that each person, conscious of their dignity as a child of God, can find the tools and means needed to move forward, beginning with self-esteem and the optimism necessary to face life.

We provide school education and vocational training, and we help local communities develop the means to support themselves. We start from the extraordinary reality of the Andes, whose cultural richness has roots that go back well before the Inca civilisation.

How does this immense and extraordinary tradition find a place within the Christian tradition?

I think this is one of those corners of the world where inculturation has perhaps been particularly successful. The Church here is not simply a replica of the Spanish Church; it has its own distinctive character.

The Gospel arrived in a culture that was deeply rooted and very much alive in religious terms. As a result, there is a widespread sense of spirituality, which many visitors today are also rediscovering through what is often called “spiritual tourism.”

This richness clearly needs to be purified and channelled appropriately, but it finds truly remarkable expression in popular piety, for example, in the particular devotion to images of the Madonna and the suffering Christ.

Something that has always aroused my curiosity is the way the suffering endured by this people for various reasons is reflected in the figure of the suffering Christ. He is seen as a companion on the journey, someone who can also give that suffering a new meaning.

A meaning rooted in the Resurrection…

Yes, in the Resurrection. The Andes are a region rich in underground resources, including gold, silver and copper mines, which have often given rise to exploitation.

Thankfully, the Church has done much to address this, frequently taking the lead in defending the dignity of workers and seeking to reorganise society so that these riches, which Divine Providence has bestowed upon this land, can be used in the best possible way.

How does tourism affect the quality of life of indigenous communities?

Unfortunately, tourism can be intrusive and often reveals its negative side. In my view, the pace of life in Andean society is not respected, although I am not sure whether this is necessarily good or bad.

I remember arriving in villages in the Andes 30 years ago and discovering a much more human pace of life precisely because it was slower. It allowed people to savour the different moments of the day.

Coming from Europe, I remember my very first experiences in small villages at high altitude, surrounded by silence. Perhaps for the first time in my life, I felt a sense of the fullness of life: reaching the end of the day with the feeling that I had truly lived every moment of a day filled with life.

Tourism has, of course, brought considerable prosperity and money, and it has led to remarkable progress. Nevertheless, as I said, there is a risk of being overwhelmed by it.

For example, Quechua, one of the languages that predates the Inca civilisation, is spoken in the Andes. Younger generations are beginning to lose it, or to speak a form of Quechua increasingly influenced by Spanish.

Yet we know that behind every language lies a vision of the world, a way of interpreting life. When the structure of a sentence is transformed, our way of looking at life is transformed too. It is a little like losing the glasses through which we see the world.

Efforts are therefore being made to preserve the language, which serves as a bond between many villages. At the same time, we cannot be naive: the world moves forward.

You speak of a way of looking at the world. In Cusco, how do people view nature? Is it a view of an ecosystem that has not yet been wounded?

I would say that I have always noticed a certain melancholy in the way people look at the world.

Take traditional Andean music, for example. It became very popular in Europe after being adapted to a rhythm that audiences on this side of the world could more readily enjoy. In the process, however, the original melody, which is rather melancholic, was often overlooked. That melancholy is clearly rooted in this environment, which in some ways opens up certain horizons while closing off others.

When you live in a valley and travelling from one place to another is difficult, your universe can end up being limited to that valley.

What kind of outlook should we bring to the contemplation of the Andes?

I remember that 30 years ago, going to Cusco was, for many people, “the great journey.” People prepared for it in a particular way, knowing they would have to face considerable altitudes and very steep mountain slopes.

Ideally, we should look at these lands with the same gaze as Jesus, who never humiliated anyone. We should approach them gently.

Our founder always used to say that the poor are holy ground, and that we must therefore take off our shoes and enter barefoot.

We must look without conveying the impression that we consider ourselves the saviours of the world, because that does not help anyone. I myself set out convinced that I was going to be the good Samaritan who arrived in the Andes, already experienced in working with the poor.

But I discovered that I was the poor one. I was the one who needed to encounter other forms of poverty in order to understand my own.

What do you expect from the Pope’s visit to Cusco, brief though it may be?

Rather than waiting for something to happen, I can already see the great fruits of the work being carried out by the Church in Cusco. Although the visit will be brief, it has been preceded by a period of intense preparation.

The catecheses are helping people draw closer to the Church. This is significant, given that a large proportion of the population is Catholic, yet many Catholics not only do not practise their faith but regularly attend what we call Protestant sects.

Why do you think these communities are gaining ground?

Among the various reasons, I think one is their close involvement in people’s family lives. People feel that someone is looking after them. When they attend worship, they can share their problems. There is a strong sense of closeness and personal contact.

These communities are also able to place particular emphasis on expressions of religious life such as dancing and singing, perhaps devoting less attention to intellectual formation.

Will Pope Leo’s meeting with representatives of popular piety also help revive the authentic roots of the Catholic faith?

I think so. This is also a priority for the entire Peruvian episcopate.

Confraternities play an enormous role and sometimes also express elements that go beyond religion, taking on what we might call pagan characteristics.

After the great missionaries who travelled through the Andes — the first evangelisation in the 16th century was a remarkable undertaking — and who gave the Church so many saints, attention often became focused on statues of saints, partly because of the shortage of priests.

There is therefore a major effort underway to purify these rites of such elements, so that they can be lived as an integral part of the Church. They are not something alien that has fallen from the sky; they belong within the life of the Church.

Is there a particular story that has been especially significant in your missionary life?

There is one episode that changed my life and that, in my view, was the Lord’s angel revealing my vocation to me.

I went to Peru as a young volunteer. The first time I had the opportunity to travel into the high Andes, an elderly man who was very poor approached me. It was the first time I had come into contact with someone experiencing real poverty.

I found myself completely defenceless, with all my Western preconceptions and prejudices. I thought, “Here comes someone to ask me for something.” I was ready to tell him, “No, I don’t have anything,” because I was convinced he was going to ask me for food.

Instead, he asked me: “What time will you celebrate Mass for us this afternoon?”

For me, that was a truly powerful moment, like a ray of light. I never saw that man again. But his words continued to work their way into my heart until I came to realise that the poor are one of the languages through which the Lord most readily speaks to us. – Vatican News

By Kielce Gussie – Assisi

On the second day of the International Meeting for Peace in Assisi, one of the morning forums focused on nuclear weapons, disarmament, and proliferation. The panel was full of researchers, a Nobel Peace Prize recipient, the Catholic archbishop of Nagasaki, Japan, and a survivor of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima.

While the threat of nuclear attacks, to some, may seem a distant possibility, Archbishop Peter Michiaki Nakamura brought a concrete example of the lasting effects and reality of the use of these weapons.

In Assisi, the archbishop brought a piece of history and Catholic devotion from the heart of Nagasaki. The head of a wooden Marian statue—the only surviving part found in the city’s Urakami Cathedral Church—was found among the rubble.

Sixty years after the bombing, a new memorial chapel was dedicated to the bombed remains of the statue.

A day in August 1945

Speaking of her memory as a six-year-old walking to school on that August day in 1945, Katsuko Tanaka recalled a tremendous flash, her hair, neck, and arm being burnt before everything went dark.

Her house was badly damaged, and her body was so burned that her mother did not recognize her. That night, Tanaka explained she came close to dying. But she survived. Why? This was a question that remained in her mind for years.

The memory was so difficult that she never spoke of her experience until her 70th birthday. Then, she began to share her story.

In her speech, Tanaka stressed the importance of continued conversation on disarmament and non-proliferation amongst countries. “As long as one exists, it must be used,” she argued.

She invited leaders of countries at war to imagine looking down at the world from a spaceship. From space, Tanaka highlighted, “you cannot see national borders. You see oceans and land. We all live on this earth. To me, it is one spaceship.”

Reflecting on the immediate aftermath of the bomb, she remembered seeing the blue sky—the same one as the day before. “That blue sky I saw that day is still in my heart. There are no borders from the sky,” Tanaka reiterated.

The topic of disarmament and non-proliferation must never fall off the list of topics to discuss. If these discussions become concrete actions, then Tanaka’s closing wish can be fulfilled: Never create another Hiroshima.

A changing world

On the other side of the coin are the numerous people around the world who have dedicated their lives to promoting nuclear disarmament.

One of these activists is Susi Snyder, who works with the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), which received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2017 for its work to draw attention to the catastrophic humanitarian consequences of any use of nuclear weapons and to get an international treaty negotiated and adopted to ban those weapons.

Snyder explained that nuclear deterrence was invented by people to justify having nuclear weapons in the 1950s. Nuclear weapons were seen as the answer to the power of conflict.

But the world of 2026 is very different. “We don’t have just two superpowers battling it out. What we have instead are multiple countries that have nuclear weapons, and that is a huge risk because everybody is unpredictable,” she stressed.

Today, one hundred and ninety-one countries have signed and are part of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). The goal is to prevent the spread of these weapons, achieve disarmament, and promote cooperation in the peaceful use of nuclear energy.

The root of the danger of having and using these weapons comes from the fact that they eliminate the human aspect of war and killing. “Nuclear weapons, nuclear deterrence relies on the dehumanization of the other. It strips us of human dignity, and it takes away the brotherhood of all,” Snyder highlighted.

For this reason, organizations, activists, and survivors of the atomic bombs in Japan have been calling for an end to nuclear weapons. Currently, there are about 12,500 nuclear weapons in the world, and more have become available over the last few years. Moreover, the systems tied to these weapons are becoming more autonomous.

Machines are analyzing the situations in which to use nuclear weapons. Snyder cited a study released by King’s College in London that revealed that “when artificial intelligence was applied to nuclear weapon command, control, and communications, the artificial intelligence chose for nuclear war every single time without fail.”

It removes human life from consideration.

Is there hope for the future?

What hope is there?

This is where faith-based organizations can play a role, Snyder said. They “remind people of our common humanity, of our shared dignity, they remind each other that we have a choice in who we want to be in the world.”

Alessja Trama with the “Be the Hope Foundation” shared Snyder’s hope for the future. She highlighted that young people have an important role to play in promoting nuclear disarmament.

“It is important to know that we don’t have to be something special or different,” Trama shared. “You can build peace pursuing whatever you are passionate about with your art or music. This is creating peace.”

Moreover, she argued that people need to realize they are not alone in fighting for a truly unarmed and disarming peace. Trama noted the importance of building a strong network, so that young people, especially, can be aware of the fact that their voices can make a change.

“The youth are not the future. They are the present. They are the protagonists of today,” she reiterated.

Snyder stressed, “There is hope for something better, even on this planet, in our lifetimes.” We have the choice. We can decide whether “nuclear weapons will end us, or we will end nuclear weapons. So, I look forward to choosing life with everyone else.” – Vatican News

By Kielce Gussie – Assisi

Forty years after the historic Spirit of Assisi meeting, where Pope St John Paul II stressed that “peace is a value with no frontiers,” the city of St Francis has once again become a place of dialogue between people of different cultures, languages, and faiths.

The International Meeting for Peace with the theme Unarmed and Disarming Peace, inspired by Pope Leo XIV’s message for the World Day of Peace 2026, opened in the afternoon of Oct 25.

One of the speakers at the opening assembly was Hala AlKarib, the regional director of the Strategic Initiative for Women in the Horn of Africa, which works to document and expose human rights abuses.

Speaking to Vatican News on the sidelines of the meeting, she stressed how important the work of building peace is in a “global context that is extremely hostile and enabling violence to happen.”

Violence is spilling over

Ms Alkarib expressed her hope that this international meeting has shone a light on the issues of violence and conflict around the world.

Specifically in Sudan, the situation is dire as more than 250,000 civilians have been killed in the four years since the conflict began. Homes, churches, mosques, and museums are looted, and sexual and gender-based violence has become more common.

The danger, she said, is that “it’s not solely happening in Sudan. It’s spilling out to other parts of the Horn of Africa.”

This is where, she said, faith-based institutions need to be more engaged.

Achieving an unarmed and disarming peace stems from placing the human person at the center. “It’s about humanity. It’s about us being in existence and living in peace and sharing the resources we have, protecting our environment and protecting our ecosystems,” Ms Alkarib noted.

These messages are important in the process of building peace, she shared. Without them, “the whole issue is becoming very transactional with human life. It’s about time for faith-institutions, which represent a very powerful force to show their positions and to speak up and to come together for the good of humanity.”

Hope for the future

Ms Alkarib warned that humanity is in “a very, very dangerous and very serious situation.”

Yet, this international meeting in Assisi with people of different religions, cultures, and stories is a starting point for dialogue, but even more so, for concrete action. Ms. Alkarib stressed that she hopes these “beautiful speeches” that were given at the opening ceremony do not simply stay words. Rather that they turn into action.

She hopes that “people across faith backgrounds will come together and think strategically about how they can cultivate the power they have to seriously push for peace.”

While this task is not easy, Ms Alkarib stressed that this is the responsibility of everyone at the meeting in Assisi and beyond—to take seriously these steps and the calls to action shared through the testimonies shared at the opening of this meeting.

Ms Alkarib reiterated the urgency and need to move beyond simple conversation and take action: “I hope that it’s not only words. We need action.” – Vatican News

Vatican News

After their daughter Ann was killed by her boyfriend, Deacon Andy and Kate Grosmaire wanted to tell him what her death had done to their family. They also wanted a say in how he would be held accountable.

“Restorative justice gave us a voice and say so in what we wanted to see,” Deacon Andy told Vatican News.

Ann was 19 when Conor McBride shot her in Tallahassee, Florida, on Palm Sunday in 2010. She died days later. He was someone her parents knew well, having lived with them for a few months.

Restorative justice brings people harmed by crime into a supported dialogue with the person responsible, seeking acknowledgment of the damage and ways to address it. This dialogue seeks to make room for the needs of victims and for the offender’s rehabilitation.

For the Grosmaires, that meant helping shape a sentence while confronting the loss that no sentence could repair.

Kate remembers initially expecting little room for their wishes in the legal process. Meeting facilitator Sujatha Baliga opened another possibility.

Months of preparation followed, as the couple considered what they wanted to say.

They eventually sat down with Conor, his parents, legal representatives, and their parish priest. They could speak about Ann and ask questions about her death.

Deacon Andy had wrestled with the feeling that he had failed to protect his daughter. Hearing Conor explain what happened helped him recognize the limits of what he could have prevented.

“Asking him what happened, I realized there’s nothing I could have done,” he said.

He described the uncertainty that can follow a violent death when the person responsible says nothing. In that silence, he said, families can imagine many possibilities.

The conversation allowed the Grosmaires to hear Conor’s account directly and respond to it. For Kate, dialogue helped healing begin.

That encounter also required Conor to listen to the suffering he had caused. According to Deacon Andy, Conor later described facing them in the circle as harder than anything he had experienced in prison.

They requested 10 to 15 years of imprisonment followed by probation, with anger management classes, speaking about teen dating violence and volunteering in areas Ann would have supported. They were also clear that they would never seek the death penalty.

Their proposals helped shape a plea agreement that resulted in 20 years in prison followed by ten years of probation, incorporating those additional conditions.

In Tallahassee, the process had been little known and had never been used for a capital crime, according to Catholic Mobilizing Network, which works with the couple.

Kate says Conor has since completed anger management classes and now helps other incarcerated men with them. He has recorded a public service announcement about teen dating violence and volunteers his time within the prison.

She believes accepting responsibility changed the way he began serving his sentence. He could no longer simply blame the system for where he was.

“It also gave him the opportunity for the redemption that we knew was possible for him,” she said.

The couple’s decision to forgive preceded the restorative process. Kate stresses that Ms. Baliga made a distinction: forgiveness is not required to participate in restorative justice. Someone can arrive angry and still seek an honest conversation about the harm suffered.

Nor does forgiveness necessarily require reconciliation. Their two surviving daughters, Kate says, have forgiven Conor in their own ways, without feeling obliged to remain in contact with him.

Kate and Andy continue to speak with him, but Deacon Andy insists he is not their lifelong project.

Faith prepared them for the difficult work of forgiveness. Both served in their parish’s healing prayer ministry. Kate, a Secular Franciscan, prayed for a greater capacity to forgive and saw the peace it brought to others.

“I knew if I wanted peace in my life, that I would have to forgive and the peace would come,” Kate said. “And it absolutely did.”

Deacon Andy was still in formation for the deaconate when Ann died. He believes resentment would have prevented him from becoming a deacon.

“I didn’t want to go to prison with Conor,” he said, describing the alternative as “a prison of my own heart.”

The couple now advocates for restorative justice through public speaking and the Ann Grosmaire “Be The Change” Fund, which they established to promote forgiveness and restorative justice practices.

Ann remains present in their memories as a young woman who loved animals and hoped to establish an animal rehabilitation centre. Kate hopes her daughter’s legacy now also speaks of love, forgiveness, and redemption.

Their grief continues, especially at holidays and family celebrations, when Ann’s absence is unmistakable. Forgiveness has allowed them to find peace within that mourning.

“But you remember that you forgave, and then you can find that within that place of mourning in that moment that can be intense, you can realize that there’s still peace there,” Kate said. “So, we can have bad days, but we don’t have to live a bad life.” – Vatican News

By Paweł Rytel-Andrianik, Artur Hanula

Bishop Tendej never planned to become a missionary. For many years, he worked in education, including as a high school principal. “Everyone used to say, ‘You’ll die here’,” he recalls with a smile. No one imagined that he would ever leave for a new place of ministry.

An almost forgotten email

A month after Pope Francis was elected, Fr Tendej received an email from the General Curia of his religious congregation, the Congregation of the Mission (Vincentians). He was just about to leave with a group of young people, so he set the message aside and did not read it properly at first.

“I thought, this isn’t for me,” he recalls.

When he finally read the message, he could hardly believe it: they were asking him to go to Papua New Guinea. “Who goes on mission at the age of 50?” he says today with a smile.

At the time, he spent many hours in adoration before the Blessed Sacrament. Then, a turning point came when he read a letter from Pope Francis to the Argentine Bishops’ Conference. Francis wrote that a Church which does not go out to people becomes sick, while a Church that does go out may have an accident — and that he would prefer a thousand times over a Church that has had an accident to one that is sick.

“I think that was an answer from the Holy Spirit,” Bishop Tendej says.

A journey into the unknown

“I went without knowing how it would all turn out,” he recalls.

Once there, he became rector of the seminary. “The seminary didn’t quite look like a seminary, but little by little we managed to put things in order,” he says.

“In some rooms, you could see the sun through the roof. And when it rained, you had to keep carrying buckets of water out. Fortunately, in my room the water dripped straight into the sink,” he adds, laughing.

Another surprise

In July 2025, the Apostolic Nuncio summoned Fr Tendej and told him that Pope Leo XIV had appointed him Bishop of Alotau-Sideia.

“Holy Father Leo is asking you to become Bishop of Alotau,” he was told.

Although deeply surprised, he accepted the appointment and was ordained a bishop on Sep 27, 2025.

“I moved from the capital to the end of the world. It really is the end of the world,” he says.

The diocese spans mostly water: about 95 percent of its geographical area is water, with land accounting for only 5 percent. Sixteen parishes are located on islands, making pastoral visits a major logistical challenge.

“It can take as long as three days by boat to reach the most distant ones,” he says.

He is glad that more missionaries have recently agreed to serve in Papua New Guinea.

Praying on the move

“Through all of this, you have to pray. I think that’s the most important thing,” the bishop stresses.

Prayer is also one of Pope Leo XIV’s teachings that resonates with him.

“I’ve found my own particular way of praying. My ‘palace’ has just one room and no chapel, but the Blessed Sacrament is reserved in the cathedral,” he says.

“I walk while praying before the Blessed Sacrament for three reasons. First, if I stop, the mosquitoes won’t let me pray. Second, I don’t fall asleep while praying. And third, it’s good exercise.”

People thirsting for God

“I can see how much they look forward to the bishop coming,” Bishop Tendej says of the faithful he meets during his pastoral visits.

Despite bad weather and logistical difficulties, he reaches even the most remote corners of the diocese with God’s help.

He particularly remembers one such journey, when he was due to bless a school.

“Everyone had gathered. It was supposed to start at ten, but we arrived at four. They sent two boats out to escort us. We made it. The journey back was just as difficult. Those are the things you remember,” the bishop recalls. – Vatican News

By Sr Christine Masivo, CPS

Opportunities can be limited on the hills of Northern Kazakhstan in Central Asia. Many young people leave school and their villages in search of a better future. St Lawrence School in Kornewka is a reminder of what education can achieve when it is rooted in faith, openness, and a genuine commitment.

The genesis of St Lawrence

St Lawrence was founded in 1996 by a German priest, Fr Lorenz Gawol, with 11 children. Now it has grown to an educational community of more than 200 students, bringing together children from Catholic, Orthodox, Protestant, and Muslim families. Known affectionately as the Shepherds school, it demonstrates how education can become a meeting point for different cultures and religions while preparing young people for the demands of the world.

The initiative emerged at a moment of uncertainty following the collapse of the Soviet Union. As many German families left Kazakhstan to return to their home country, Fr Gawol faced a choice to leave or stay and serve the children who would remain. He stayed believing that a beneficial education, a sound moral foundation, and opportunities for personal development could make a lasting difference in their lives.

That decision continues to shape the school three decades later.

Beyong religious difference

Speaking to the Vatican’s Fides news agency, Fr Leopold Kropfreiter, a priest of the Servants of Jesus and Mary (SJM), said, “We cannot call it a Catholic school, but we seek to convey a Christian vision of the human person through education, ethics, and personal development.” He has served the school since 2018, promoting Christian understanding of the human person without limiting admission solely to Christians, operating within Kazakhstan’s national education system and welcoming students and staff from diverse religious backgrounds.

Intercultural and interreligious experience is an everyday relationship, with Christian encounters that respect other beliefs too.

A former Muslim student shared her experience when she defended her positive experience at the school after someone suggested she might have faced hostility in a Christian environment.

Her experience reflects the school’s central conviction that people do not need to abandon their identity to learn from one another, but instead mutual respect, shared experience, and genuine friendship can help students grow together.

For Fr Kropfreiter, Christian witness is expressed not only through religious celebration but also through hospitality, quality education and respect for every person’s dignity.

Education for the future

St Lawrence equips students with special skills like character formation, practical skills and opportunities that might otherwise remain beyond their reach. Language education, especially German, has long been distinctive and has helped students pursue opportunities abroad. Around 25 to 30 students are currently studying in Germany and Austria.

The school introduced digital skills courses in 2026, provided computers, and organized training seminars on artificial intelligence while exploring various programs and the use of AI to create applications and games.

These skills can help young people bring together village life and the wider digital economy. Technology becomes more than a classroom resource, offering a pathway towards greater independence, creativity, and participation in the future.

Nonetheless, challenges remain as families migrate elsewhere in search of opportunities. However, the school continues its work with the support of religious communities, missionary organizations, and donors.

St Lawrence offers a compelling example of education as both a social mission and a bridge between culture and faith, helping young people discover their potential and embrace new possibilities.

The seeds planted by Fr Lorenz Gawol’s decision to stay in Kazakhstan have grown into communities where differences become opportunities for understanding and education, preparing the next generation to build a more inclusive future. – Vatican News

By Guglielmo Gallone – Nairobi, Kenya

It seems that the children here never stop crying. These are the children of the young women we care for at the “Salama” Center. They wait for their mothers to finish the training sessions on sewing, cooking, hairdressing, and beauty care, that are conducted every morning.

These courses last between three and six months, yet they often transform lives. The 37 people involved including our beneficiaries and staff all hail from Kibera, the largest informal settlement in Africa of approximately half a million people who live here, packed into an area of roughly 2.5 square kilometers.

Although proper housing is slowly beginning to appear and initial river cleanup efforts have started, this remains a place of profound poverty. Most residents live in shacks lacking toilets or running water. Those who can, tap into electricity and lighting via illegal connections—which, however, frequently spark fires that destroy the shacks. For instance, just the night before our visit, the center’s water pump was stolen, and they had to deal with a water leak.

A welcome from Fr Kizito at the Salama Center

Fr Renato Kizito Sesana welcomed us with these explanations to the “Salama” Center, a facility established in 2018 by his community, Koinonia, to assist women in this vast informal settlement in Nairobi.

Located just a few kilometers from the city center, the area has grown to include countless corrugated iron houses, alleyways, shops, schools, churches, and small businesses. The United Nations has documented the presence of open sewers, inadequate drainage systems, and a lack of sanitation facilities relative to the population size.

Furthermore, studies conducted in Kibera reveal a heavy burden of respiratory diseases, tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS, diarrheal illnesses, and other infectious diseases.

The inspiring story of Daisy Ogola

The stories we encounter confirm this one in particular of Daisy Ogola. We first met her on the ground floor of the Salama Center, teaching an English lesson to children. Later, we met her again on the terrace, a space soon to become a recreation area for the children.

This is where Daisy shares her story with us. Hers is the story of a woman who, at the age of 23, an age when one typically grapples with dreams and uncertainty, a time when recklessness and ambition collide, often leading to a sense of inadequacy found herself a mother of two, a boy and a girl. It is the story of a woman who had been cast out by her family after news of her first pregnancy broke.

She had completed Form 4, the final year of secondary school in Kenya, and had still hoped to continue her education. “However, my parents were shocked by my pregnancy. They asked, ‘How could this happen? You haven’t even gone to university yet; you haven’t achieved your goals.’ They told me that this was the path I had chosen and that I would have to live my life this way on my own.”

For Daisy, those words meant facing life day by day, with nowhere to go. She then went to live with the man who had fathered her child.

Their first child was born. Shortly after, a second pregnancy followed. They decided to move from a small village in western Kenya to Nairobi specifically, to Kibera.

Upon arriving at Salama, the center did not and could not simply erase her past. That is not possible. Above all, Daisy says that the father of her children does not want her to work or build her own economic independence lest she no longer need him one day.

“I think he is jealous. He fears that if I got a job, I wouldn’t rely on him anymore. He called Salama and asked them not to help me, so that I would remain dependent on him. But he isn’t someone you can really count on, he tells you one thing today and changes his mind tomorrow,” she recounted.

So, when we ask her if she can still envision a future with the man, her answer comes without hesitation, “If I could, I would prefer to live alone with my children.” This is why certain wounds remain unhealed; indeed, they are shifting Kenyan society’s perspective on the family.

Family

Family is a word that Daisy struggles to define or even fully grasp, partly due to the choices her parents made. We ask if she has seen her parents again or heard from them, and if she can forgive them.

“I will forgive them because they are my parents. What happened, happened. But part of that history still troubles me. We speak on the phone occasionally these days, but the last time I saw them was when I left; I haven’t seen them for three years,” the 23-year-old tells us.

And yet, there is something about this whole story that holds a note of hope. First of all, there is the fact that we didn’t meet Daisy on the street, we met her while she was teaching children. Furthermore, Daisy is thinking about her future, she would like to start a catering business.

“Compared to before,” she says, “today I see that I have gained certain skills. I feel like I am getting closer to my goals. It wasn’t easy, but I think I have overcome various challenges and learned a lot. At least now I can be proud of myself. Being a young mother of two and having to care for them is not easy.”

The “Salama” Center

It is no coincidence that Daisy acquired these skills at a center named Salama, a Swahili word meaning “safety.”

“That is precisely what we aim to provide,” explains Ann Achieng, a social worker in her second year at the Koinonia center. “When the girls come here, they are safe. First and foremost, they can take courses in cooking, beauty care, hairdressing, and tailoring to gain practical skills. Each class usually has ten participants, though the tailoring course has fewer because we have six machines. Once the training is complete, these women are not simply left to fend for themselves. Instead, thanks to donors, they receive the equipment needed to start small businesses. The center also provides follow-up support. Some find temporary employment as cleaners, cooks, or childcare providers, serving as a stepping stone toward financial independence.”

Leaving children at the center and the history of Kibera

“The most important thing is that they can leave their children here and see them whenever they wish. At the same time, we provide care through our child caregivers. Everyone at Salama has access to clean water and clean bathing facilities, free of charge. Many of them wouldn’t even want to leave, because we provide everything they need,” she emphasized.

Anne does not speak about Kibera as if she were observing it from the outside. She was born in this Nairobi slum and grew up in another Koinonia center, “Anita’s House,” where she developed the skills necessary to provide professional and psychological support.

Perhaps it is precisely for this reason that, when recounting the struggles of the women who come to this center, she feels compelled to defend her neighborhood against what she views as an overly simplistic portrayal.

“Many people see Kibera as a place where poor people come from. It is true, there are many problems and there is crime. But you cannot say that just because someone was born and raised here, they must be a criminal. There are many successful people who come from Kibera.”

“It is an image people have built in their minds: Kibera as a place of crime.” She then adds a statement reflecting her connection to the community: “To me, Kibera makes people resilient. You can grow up here, find someone to help you with your studies, and then succeed. Saying you are from Kibera does not define who you are. Many people from here have bright futures.”

Mwita, Training Coordinator at the Salama center

Samuel Mwita, the training program coordinator at Salama and the only man working full-time at the center shares this perspective.

“Being the only man in this program is significant for that very reason to help and empower women, men and women need to work together, it is crucial to understand that women’s liberation cannot be about women alone.” This is because, he notes, “many girls become mothers at a young age against their will and especially in Kibera end up being ostracized by the community in various ways.”

For instance, they become mothers very young, and if they were still in school, their education is cut short. Some are forced into early marriage. Others are kicked out of their homes by their parents.

Still others are forced to live on their own. Consequently, they begin to feel a sense of isolation.” “They are considered failures,” concludes Samuel.

Lara Aiello: ‘The goal is to shift the perspective’

The primary objective, then, is precisely to shift this perspective as Lara Aiello, a psychologist working at the Salama Center, tells us.

“We want to restore dignity to these girls. And we want to do so without viewing Kibera as a place of hopelessness. Here, there is no complaining, no slouching, and no shuffling one’s feet while walking. The courses are a pretext for meeting these girls and accompanying them on their journey toward womanhood, independence, and self-actualization. Restoring their dignity, here and elsewhere.”

Young women and the struggle for self-reliance

This story concerns Daisy, as well as Eva and Damaris, two other young women we meet at Salama. Eva is a mother of two and lives on her own.

She was born in Meru County, but Kibera has been her home since she was in the fourth grade. She managed to finish secondary school despite financial hardships, but accumulated school fees prevented her from receiving her final certificate and, consequently, from pursuing further studies at college. Then she became pregnant.

Amidst these challenges, life became a struggle where even buying food, clothes, or diapers for her children was difficult. Poverty became a stigma she had to bear. “In the neighborhood, people mocked me because I couldn’t afford diapers for my children: ‘What do you think you’re doing if you can’t even take care of your kids?'” she explained.

At Salama, Eva took a three-month beauty course. Afterward, the center gave her a cleaning job. “It’s not my ultimate goal yet, but it’s a salary. It’s money. And it’s mine. It is an opportunity to care for my child without having to wait for someone else to do it for me. My surroundings began to change. Now, I can share my story with others. And since I started earning money, even people who used to look down on me have begun to respect me.”

Damaris’s story

Damaris is 25 years old and had been thinking about starting a family. She finished Form 4 in 2018, then met a man who promised to marry her. She became pregnant. That promise lasted only until the day of delivery.

When Damaris went to the hospital to give birth to their daughter, the young man left. He never returned. To this day, she does not know where he is. Her daughter is only ten months old. Yet, her story is not unique.

“In Kibera,” she explains, “houses can be so crowded that they accommodate up to ten people. A girl grows up, starts feeling like a burden to her family, and enters into a relationship or even an early marriage as a possible way out of hardship. Life isn’t easy. But it is easy to be exploited. You could end up involved in crime or in a marriage that eventually fails.”

Damaris is now studying at Salama. And she has a very clear vision: “I would like to open a small center of my own, a place where girls and boys, men and women, can come. I want to put into practice what I’ve learned here. I have to raise my daughter. I don’t have a job, I have nothing. That is why I am trying my absolute best in class.”

The more we ask her about her future, the clearer her vision becomes, and the more her horizons expand. As she speaks with us, Damaris dreams. She dreams of her own business a place capable of attracting customers from Kibera and perhaps all of Nairobi.

But above all, she dreams that one day, when someone mentions her name, they won’t think of the girl abandoned at the hospital with a newborn in her arms, living in Africa’s largest slum. Instead, they will simply think, “Damaris is the best.”

That is the hope with which we bid her farewell: that Damaris is the best, and that all the women of Kibera are the best. – Vatican News

Vatican News

The Church across the globe will gather in prayer for Pope Leo XIV on Tuesday, Oct 13, as he is admitted to Gemelli Hospital for surgery to remove a “small, localized nodule” from his lung.

Cardinal Baldassare Reina, the Pope’s Vicar General for the Diocese of Rome, will lead the Rosary at 6.00 pm in the hospital’s St John Paul II Chapel.

He has invited every parish and religious community in the diocese to pray the Rosary at the same hour, entrusting the Holy Father to the maternal intercession of the Virgin Mary.

The prayer from Gemelli will be broadcast live by Vatican Media and available on our Vatican News YouTube channel and website.

The Pope’s Augustinian confreres have also invited the faithful to pray for his health and for the doctors caring for him.

Masses and prayers around the world

On Monday evening, the Augustinian-run Shrine of Our Mother of Good Counsel in Genazzano, near Rome, called the community together in prayer for the operation and the Pope’s recovery. The shrine has a particular place in Pope Leo’s life: he has visited it twice since his election.

In Peru, Cardinal Carlos Castillo, Archbishop of Lima, celebrated Mass for his health at the Shrine of Las Nazarenas in Lima shortly after the Pope announced the operation.

Chiclayo, Pope Leo’s former diocese, held a Mass for Monday evening at its cathedral, with Bishop Edinson Farfán Córdova presiding.

In the Philippines, Archbishop Gilbert Garcera, president of the Bishops’ Conference, asked Bishops and priests to offer Mass for the operation and recovery.

He encouraged families and religious communities to pray the Rosary and offer daily sacrifices and acts of charity for the Pope’s healing.

Across Africa, Cardinal Fridolin Ambongo, Archbishop of Kinshasa, president of the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar, invited Bishops, priests, consecrated men and women, and lay faithful to unite in prayer.

He expressed the hope that Eucharistic celebrations and personal prayers would convey the continent’s closeness to the Holy Father.

In Pope Leo’s native Chicago, parishioners prayed for him at Monday evening Mass at St Mary of the Angels Church.

The Midwest Augustinians said their communities were praying in a special way for their confrere and invited others to join them. – Vatican News

By Francesca Merlo

When Mary’s Meals first met Leticia, known to many as Lettie, she was 11 years old. Recently orphaned and hungry, she had been forced to leave school and care for her two younger brothers. Her story was first shared in Child 31, the award-winning 2012 documentary that introduced audiences around the world to the reality of child hunger in Malawi. Now, more than a decade later, Mary’s Meals has returned to Lettie’s story.

Their new documentary, Lettie, shares a new, very different chapter of her life.

Today, Lettie is an educated, working mother. She works for Mary’s Meals Malawi, where she also serves as a Youth Ambassador, sharing the stories of children who, like her, receive a daily meal at school. Her son is thriving and neither he nor his mother are facing the hunger that once threatened to define her and her brothers’ futures.

For Angela Chipeta-Khonje, Country Director of Mary’s Meals Malawi, Lettie’s story is both extraordinary and deeply familiar. “She is one of those children who went through hunger, but she overcame it thanks to a meal that she was getting every day at school”. However, Chipeta-Khonje notes, the significance of her story goes beyond survival. “It is a story that is giving hope to so many other children in Malawi,” she explains. “And it helps people understand the extent to which children are living in these situations.”

A daily meal, a lasting change

World Porridge Day, marked each year on 10 October, draws attention to the importance of school meals in tackling childhood hunger and improving access to education. The day is closely associated with the work of Mary’s Meals, which provides nutritious meals to children in some of the world’s poorest communities. Although the documentary was released earlier this year, Lettie’s story offers a reminder of the lasting difference that a daily meal can make in a child’s life.

For children in Malawi, the challenges of hunger and food insecurity are particularly acute. According to the World Food Programme, 6.8 million people in the country are experiencing insufficient food consumption. Most families rely on smallholder farming and rain-fed agriculture, leaving them especially vulnerable to droughts, flooding and other climate-related shocks.

“Food insecurity has remained a significant challenge,” Chipeta-Khonje explains. “Most families have been unable to recover from repeated climatic shocks and do not have adequate food production.” Children are often the first to bear the consequences. Yet, in the midst of these challenges, a simple meal can become something far greater than food. Mary’s Meals “is meeting immediate hunger needs,” Chipeta-Khonje says, “but it is also providing the incentive and energy for education, which ultimately breaks the cycle of poverty.”

More than a meal

Mary’s Meals began serving school meals in Malawi in 2003. What started with around 200 children in a single school has grown into the charity’s largest programme worldwide. Today, more than 1.3 million children receive a meal every school day across Malawi. They now operate in 16 countries worldwide. According to the organisation’s 2025 impact study, 97 per cent of teachers reported improvements in literacy and numeracy linked to better attendance and reduced hunger. Every teacher surveyed reported reduced dropout rates and improved retention among pupils receiving school meals.

Chipeta-Khonje says these outcomes reveal something important. “Yes, we are alleviating hunger,” she says. “But at the same time, it is an investment in human capital development.” Education, she argues, is one of the most effective ways of addressing the challenges many African countries continue to face. “We need a population that is educated so that we can deal with the challenges we are seeing every day.”

The many stories we do not hear

Lettie’s story has captured international attention because her journey was documented. But Chipeta-Khonje insists that “there are so many Letties out there”.

Over the last two decades, millions of children have passed through Mary’s Meals programmes in Malawi. Many have returned years later to share how a daily meal at school enabled them to remain in education, find employment, support their families and build better futures. For Chipeta-Khonje, these stories reveal the true power of school feeding programmes. “They create conditions for hope,” she says. “They create opportunity. They bring lasting change that is carried into adulthood and passed on to the next generation.”

Small acts of love

Chipeta-Khonje hopes that as people watch Lettie all across the world, they will see more than one woman’s journey. She hopes they will recognise what can happen when people choose to respond to hunger with compassion. “It doesn’t have to be huge,” she says. “Small acts of love can do so much for so many children across the world”.

It is a message that resonates strongly on World Porridge Day. Behind the simple act of providing a daily meal are opportunities for children to attend school, receive an education and build a better future. Stories like Lettie’s remind us what this means in practice. Often, it means a future that once seemed impossible. As Lettie shows, a daily school meal may seem simple, but for millions of children, it can change everything. – Vatican News

Cover photo, poster, corn soya blend and volunteers making porridge all courtesy of Mary’s Meals