Meeting of Ambassadors to the Holy See

(March 22.2012) The Vatican’s Pontifical council for Culture is organising a comprehensive meeting of the Ambassadors from Africa on 26th March, 2012. The Programme will be held in three different parts and at more than one venue. The first part of the day would be devoted to a detailed presentation of the Dicastery by the President Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi and the Secretary of the Council Bishop Barthélemy Adoukonou who hails from Benin. It will begin in the morning at the Meeting Hall of the Council near St Peter’s Basilica. The Ambassadors then will have a chance to intervene and express their opinion and make their proposals for collaboration. Xaverian Fr. Theodore Mascarenhas, Head of the Department for cultures in Africa will moderate the session. At 11.30 AM the scene will shift to the Temple of Adrian. Rome’s Chamber of Commerce is sponsoring the event and the second part of the programme will be held at the Seat of this Chamber at the temple of Adriano. The Ambassadors will be greeted by Mr. Giancarlo Cremonesi, President of Rome’s Chamber of commerce, followed by a presentation on the Activities of the different departments of the chamber of Commerce. There will be a detailed cultural introduction to the historical and present day aspects of the Temple of Adrian. In the last part of the programme, the diplomats will be taken visit to the Auditorium, Parco della Musica. The Pontifical Council for Culture has been receiving very active collaboration from different embassies. 23 Embassies have confirmed their participation. We are reminded of the similar meeting of ambassadors to the Holy see from the Asian continent held on March 10, 2011. The aim of these initiative is to strengthen further the ties between the embassies and the Dicastery and to evolve new ways for cultural cooperation between the Pontifical Council for Culture and many of the countries that are geographically distant from the Vatican.