Press Release by the
Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development
Conference “Francesca Cabrini, Patron of Migrants: A Saint for Today”
Rome, Palazzo San Calisto, 1 December 2017
On the occasion of the centenary of the death of Saint Francesca Saverio Cabrini, that falls on 22 December, a conference will be held in Rome on 1 December, in the Pius XI Hall of Palazzo San Calisto. It will present the figure of the Saint, native of the Province of Lodi, who died in 1917 in Chicago, in the United States. A woman of the 19th-century who had much to say in light of today’s global context, so filled with an intense movement of peoples. The conference, entitled “Francesca Cabrini, Patron of Migrants: A Saint for Today,” stemmed from a collaboration between L’Osservatore Romano (through its monthly publication “Donne Chiesa Mondo”), the Dicastery for the Laity, Family and Life (the Women’s Office) and the Dicastery for the Promotion of Integral Human Development, through the Migrants and Refugees Section, and hopes to be a moment for reflection on the actions deployed—in both the religious and the civil spheres—for dealing with the migration phenomenon active inmany areas of the world today.
Hence, the intention is to revisit some of the initiatives created in light of the project of Mother Cabrini, who proposed integrating migrants into a new reality through a path guaranteeing the stability of their religious identity and always having respect for their dignity as human beings.
Representatives of organizations and institutions that deal with these issues have been invited to speak at this conference. After the Opening Speech by Cardinal Peter K.A. Turkson, Prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, and Sister Barbara Staley, Superior General of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart (the religious institute founded by Mother Cabrini), Lucetta Scaraffia, Head of L’Osservatore Romano’s publication “Donne Chiesa Mondo,” and author, among other things of the text; “Tra terra e cielo: vita di Francesca Cabrini”, will take the floor and be the Moderator for the morning session.
In the afternoon the moderator will be Marta Rodriguez, head of the Women’s Office of the Dicastery for the Laity, Family and Life. Other interventions will include Fr. Fabio Baggio, Under-Secretary of the Migrants and Refugees Section of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, and Hon. Livia Turco, President of the Nilde Iotti Foundation, and Hon. Elena Cementero, President of the Committee on Equality of the Council of Europe.
For information please contact the Press and Communications Office of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development: Roberto Paglialonga (r.paglialonga@humandevelopment.va), Pamela Fabiano (p.fabiano@humandevelopment.va), Claudia di Lorenzi (c.dilorenzi@humandevelopment.va ).