Pope Francis I

Vatican City, 16 May 2013 (VIS) The Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, Bartholomew I, is visiting Milan, on the occasion of the 1700th anniversary of the Edict of Milan, signed by Constantine and Licinius, respectively the emperors of the western and eastern parts of the Roman Empire, in 313. The treaty granted freedom of worship to Christians throughout the Roman Empire, putting an end to religious persecution.
For his visit, Pope Francis, yesterday afternoon, sent a message through Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone, S.D.B., to Cardinal Angelo Scola, archbishop of Milan, with greetings to the Patriarch, the participants in the commemoration, as well as to the entire city, for the importance given to the memory of the historic decision that, decreeing religious freedom for Christians, opened new paths to the Gospel and decisively contributed to the birth of European civilization.
In the text, the Holy Father expresses the desire that, today as then, the common witness of Christians of the East and West, sustained by the Spirit of the Risen One, will agree to the spread of the message of salvation in Europe and the entire world and that, thanks to the foresight of civil authorities, the right to publicly express one s faith will be respected everywhere, and that the contribution that Christianity continues to offer to culture and society in our time will be accepted without prejudice.

In March, came renewed thanks for the support of the Tuscany Delegation further studies of student Daniella Samir A'Maia in the Holy Land, which since 2010 benefited from such aid. The director of the religious seminar is required to send to the Delegation also an update of photographic and documentary school about the student Daniella, grateful to the Constantine Knights.

08/02/2013 (Vatican) Cardinal Giovanni Cheli (Bailiff Grand Cross of Justice) dies, 94 years old

Cardinal Giovanni Cheli, the former president of the Pontifical Council for Migrants, died on February 7 at the age of 94.

The Italian prelate had worked in the Vatican Secretariat of State and at the Holy See s mission to the UN before being names to head the Pontifical Council for Migrants in 1989. He remained at that post until his retirement in 1998 at the age of 79. He had been the 5th-oldest living member of the College of Cardinals, to which he was elevated by Pope John Paul II in 1998.

Pope Benedict XVI hailed Cardinal Cheli for the testimony of a life spent in consistent and generous adherence to his vocation as a priest concerned with the needs of the faithful and especially in the Christian formation of young persons." Cardinal Angelo Sodano, the dean of the College of Cardinals, will preside at his funeral on February 9 in St. Peter s basilica.

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The book has a preface by the President of the Austrian branch of our Sacred Militia, HRIH Archduke Simeon of Austria.

This book is the first publication about the Order in German language and thus it might be of great interest for German-speaking members of our order.

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