World Peace Conference in Pompeii

The day after tomorrow, Saturday, March 23, at 9:30 AM, in Pompeii, at the Pontifical Marian Shrine, in the Luisa Trapani Hall, the conference on world peace will take place, promoted by the governor of the Rotary District of Campania, Professor Ugo Oliviero, to award the "Peace First and Foremost" prize to Professor Andrea Riccardi, founder of the Community of Sant'Egidio, who has been particularly distinguished in weaving peace initiatives. The event will significantly take place in Pompeii, a city where the founder, Blessed Bartolo Longo, wanted to dedicate the facade of the Basilica to Universal Peace. The chosen date, Saturday, March 23, also has a symbolic value, as it is the day before Palm Sunday, a festivity charged with a message of peace. Professor Oliviero stated: "Peace represents the primary area of intervention for Rotary starting from the seven 'Centers for Peace', located from North Carolina to Uganda, in which about 1,700 peace fellows have been trained to date, who are then started working in various Embassies" he said. "One way to foster peace is to work on education, in a historical moment in which the extraordinary acceleration of communication means finds an environment unprepared to spread education and culture through different social layers. This leads to misinformation, manipulation of the masses, fear of new technological tools such as artificial intelligence. The case of the latter is emblematic, which, instead of being seen as a factor in enhancing human activity, to do things faster and better than already done, almost raises fear and alarm" he continued. After the institutional greetings from Governor Ugo Oliviero, Archbishop of Pompeii Tommaso Caputo, Mayor of Pompeii Carmine Lo Sapio, Presidents of the Rotary Clubs of Pompeii, Michele Boccia and Giovanna Giordano, the upcoming Rotary governors Antonio Brando and Angelo Di Rienzo, the heads of Rotaract and Interact, respectively Roberto Mauri and Mariaclara Scialò, the schedule includes interventions by: Gabriel Zuchtriegel (General Director of the Archaeological Park of Pompeii), Raffaele Sabato (Judge of the European Court of Human Rights), Christina Lamb (OBE Officer, Foreign Correspondent Journalist for 'Sunday Times', Writer), Shervin Haravi (Italian-Iranian Lawyer, Human Rights Activist), Maria Vittoria Gargiulo (Rotary International Positive Peace Activator), Simona Pinton (Rotarian from Padua Euganea, D2060, Vice-President of the Rotary Peace Centers Commission). The proceedings will be moderated by journalist Nello Del Gatto.