A press conference was held yesterday in the Holy See Press Office to present a variety of innovative initiatives that will form a part of the preparations for the April 27 canonization of Blesseds John XXIII and John Paul II.

According to the Press Office, speakers at the press conference were Cardinal Agostino Vallini, vicar of His Holiness for the diocese of Rome, along with Msgr. Giulio Dellavite, secretary general for the Curia of Bergamo, Msgr. Walter Insero, head of the Office for Social Communications for the Vicariate of Rome, and Fr. Federico Lombardi S.J., director of the Holy See Press Office.

They announced the launching of a new digital platform that will enable the faithful and pilgrims to have access to news and information regarding the ceremonies as well as a series of spiritual reflections on the life and teachings of both popes.

The official site is an almost-completed portal which offers contacts, a media section, information, videos and images as well as biographical documentation on John XXIII and John Paul II. It will be available in five languages: Italian, English, French, Spanish and Polish.

A new app, entitled "Santo Subito",  which may be downloaded free in both Android and IOS formats (in Italian, English, Spanish and Polish) will offer logistical information, as well as access to the main news on the canonizations, and will allow material relating to the various liturgical events to be downloaded.

Existing media include:

Official page of the Postulation with content in five languages:

Official Twitter page with content in five languages:

YouTube channel for the Postulation:

Also available is a portal that was developed in 2011 for the beatification of Karol Wojtyla which gives a detailed illustration of the stages in the canonical process leading to the recognition of the saintliness of John Paul II. It is available in several languages: Italian, English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Polish and Romanian.

The parallel project #2popesaints, realized in collaboration with the students of communication sciences from the Roman University LUMSA, involves a series of networks enabling young people to get to know the lives, teachings and testimony of faith of the two new saints. There will be a Facebook page entitled 2popesaints; on Twitter, the account @2popesaints; on Instagram, #2popesaints; and on YouTube, 2popesaints. Every day each one of the above will propose a theme relating to both popes in the media, starting from April 17 until the canonization, and each event will be transmitted live on each network.

"In the diocese of Rome, on April 22 in the Basilica of St. John Lateran, Cardinal Agostino Vallini will preside at a meeting addressing young people, with the postulators for the causes of both saints: Msgr. Slavomir Oder (John Paul II) and Fr. Giovangiuseppe Califano (John XXIII).

"On April 26, starting at 9 p.m., there will be a 'White night of prayer' with the churches throughout the center of Rome remaining open for prayer and confession in various languages," the Press Office announced.

Similarly, the diocese of Bergamo will pay homage to Blessed John XIII with a series of activities dedicated to charity, human development and solidarity which affect daily lives. They include an aid project for Haiti to guarantee three years' education in the John XXIII school; an invitation to priests to contribute a month's salary and all the alms collected by the parish communities on April 27 to a fund set up in aid of families afflicted by the economic crisis; and the April 12 commemoration of the publication of the encyclical "Pacem in Terris" to be attended by ambassadors representing the countries where Angelo Roncalli carried out his diplomatic mission as an apostolic nuncio (Bulgaria, Turkey, Greek and France), and which will be presented by Jacques Delors, former president of the European Commission.

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