On June 14th, 2021, in the cloister of Palazzo Borromeo and in full compliance with anti-Covid measures, the global campaign ‘Leaders for Peace’ of the young people of Rondine Cittadella della Pace was presented to the Diplomatic Corps accredited to the Holy See.
Opening the meeting, – that was moderated by Patricia Thomas, correspondent journalist and producer of the Associated Press Television News – Ambassador Pietro Sebastiani recalled that Italy fully supports, as the first signatory, the Leaders for Peace campaign of the Rondine association. One of the priority topics of Italy’s mandate in the UN Human Rights Council is the support to open, tolerant and inclusive societies thanks to the adoption of a particular methodology aimed at the creative transformation of conflicts.
Then, Franco Vaccari, Founder and President of the Rondine Cittadella della Pace association, invited the Diplomatic Corps to visit the Rondine’s Cittadella della Pace on the 9th of July and to participate in a round table with young people of the association.
The participation from the Vatican was particularly heartfelt. Monsignor Mirosław S. Wachowski, Undersecretary of the Section for Relations with the States of the Holy See, in recalling the 700th anniversary of the death of Dante Alighieri – who decided, according to Mgr. Wachowski, to write the Divine Comedy to think of a new path of peace, just like the young people of Rondine – confirmed the support of the Holy Father and the Holy See to the Leaders for Peace campaign. Monsignor Stefano Russo, Secretary General of the Italian Episcopal Conference, in thanking Rondine for his commitment to promote works of peace, focused in particular on the Project “Mediterranean Frontier of Peace” promoted by the CEI in Bari in February 2020 and developed by Rondine with Caritas Italiana.
George Poulides, Ambassador of Cyprus and Dean of the Diplomatic Corps to the Holy See, and Federico Zamora Cordero, Ambassador of Costa Rica to the Holy See expressed their support to the Rondine campaign. They both addressed an appeal to the other members of the Diplomatic Corps to promote the subscription of the Leaders for Peace campaign in their home countries.
Lastly, Stefania Mancini, Vice President of Fondation Assistance Internationale (FAI), the foundation that supported the development of Rondine and the Leaders for Peace campaign, stressed the importance of the “diplomacy of making peace”.
The event was broadcast live on Facebook. Click here for a recorded video of the event.
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- For further information on Rondine: https://rondine.org/
- Press release “Leaders for Peace. The Rondine student campaign has been renewed for two more years“
