SW News: Thanks to the intervention of Caritas and local communities, a total of 80 people including 42 Ukrainian children and their guardians from the Dnipropetrovsk cities of Nikopol and Kryviy Rih will be welcomed for the summer in the dioceses of Senigallia, Ascoli Piceno, and Macerata.

The effort, which has the endorsement of both the Apostolic Nunciature in Ukraine and the Italian Episcopal Conference, is another demonstration of the Italian Church's solidarity with the people of Ukraine.

The project joins others that are already underway and have given more than 600 children and young people the chance to spend a few weeks in peace, away from misery and war.

These holiday activities at the diocesan level have been arranged in partnership with Caritas Spes and Caritas Ukraine and with the intervention carried out by the European Nonviolent Action Movement from the start of the summer.

Together with Caritas Spes, and Caritas Ukraine, Caritas Italiana has been working alongside Ukrainian communities and leading the way in emergency management and aid since the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. In 2022, it granted the Ukrainian Caritas' request to give 200 kids a vacation in Italy before returning to their academic studies. The local churches ensured food and lodging as well as recreational and entertaining activities for the children, teenagers, and accompanying adults.

Fr Marco Pagniello, director of Caritas Italiana, said, “These kids certainly dream of peace and of returning to a peaceful life, of attending school, of being able to embrace their friends again and, for many of them, even the fathers who are currently at war. Many of these children also come from orphanages and in them, there is also the hope of finally being able to dream of a family. This experience follows in the wake of others such as the Chernobyl disaster.”