Our Authors

Mother of four children, she lives in Malawi. Raised in a large and modest family, she learned early the value of sharing and solidarity. As a volunteer, she mainly cares for the elderly and children. Agnes is a concrete example of how the works of mercy can become a way of life even in the most fragile contexts and in the simplest forms.

Until 1987 he ran the family farm, combining study and work from his teenage years. A Philosophy graduate from the University of Pisa, he became a teacher in 1986, first in middle schools and then in high schools. From 1994 to 1998 he was first administrator, then president of AMIT (Municipal Company for Environmental Hygiene owned by the Municipality of Lucca). In 1998 his political career began when he was elected city councilor for the Municipality of Lucca. He served as Mayor of the city from 2012 to 2022.

From Palermo, she is a sociologist at the “Pedro Arrupe” Institute of Political Formation – Social Studies Center in the Sicilian capital and a lecturer at the Theological Faculty of Sicily. With extensive experience in research and action on marginality, active citizenship and social policies, she has always been committed to the social field. Alongside the peripheries, she lives the dimension of community in every sphere.

Antonella Attanasio is an educational specialist and Vice-President of the Ipad Mediterranean cooperative. She has gained extensive experience in early childhood education services, adult education and social inclusion. She works for the Caritas Diocesana di Ugento–Santa Maria di Leuca (Lecce), where she is part of a team that develops projects focusing on intercultural education and support for people serving non-custodial sentences through personalised educational programmes. She currently works in the Intercultural Mediation Service within educational settings of the Ambito Sociale Territoriale di Gagliano del Capo (LE), promoting an educational approach based on dialogue between cultures and recognition of diversity as a driver of community development. She is a member of the advocacy team of the Delegazione Regionale Caritas Puglia and the Tavolo Permanente di Promozione Umana, contributing to the development of inclusive policies and initiatives promoting social justice and human dignity.

Born in Burundi, consecrated in the Focolare Movement. He is currently in Burkina Faso on mission. He organized the Forum on the reEvolution of the Works of Mercy in Bobo-Dioulasso, Burkina Faso, on December 1 and 2, 2023.

Carlo Miglietta is a physician specialized in Internal Medicine and in Geriatrics and Gerontology. He first worked as a hospital doctor at Martini Hospital in Turin, and then as a family doctor at ASL 01 in Turin. In 1970, together with some friends, he founded the GMG “Gruppo Missionario Giovanile”, while in 2000 he founded CO.RO ONLUS “Comitato Roraima di solidarietà con i popoli indigeni del Brasile”, of which he is currently Secretary. In 1971 he began his path as a biblical scholar with a Bible Course on the Gospel of Matthew. His passion for Scripture and exegetical methodology were initially given to him through his attendance at the Ecumenical Community of Bose and, later, were deepened at the Theological Faculty of Turin and through daily personal study. Every year, in the Diocese of Turin and in other Italian Dioceses, he holds numerous Bible courses, conferences and retreats, always on scriptural topics, where he seeks to provide the interpretative keys to the chosen biblical subject, with historical, literary, exegetical and spiritual references, with the sole aim of leading participants to a personal encounter with the Sacred Text, coming to engage with it and above all to pray the Word. He writes books on biblical topics and collaborates with print and online periodicals for the biblical page. He curates the meditations on the Sunday Gospel for the Misericordie on spaziospadoni.org under the heading “Buona misericordia a tutti!”.

Professional journalist, she lives in Lucca. She is editor of the missionary magazine for children «Il Ponte d’Oro» and of the monthly magazine «Popoli e Missione», the magazine of the Fondazione Missio. Among her publications: C’ero anch’io! Animali, piante, oggetti raccontano episodi del Vangelo dal loro punto di vista (Edb 2012); La Pentecoste spiegata ai bambini (Il Pozzo di Giacobbe 2017).

Chiara Prontera is 26 years old and lives in Morciano, a small town near Santa Maria di Leuca, in the province of Lecce. In 2024, she graduated in Political Science, International Relations and Human Rights from the University of Padua, and shortly afterwards she left for Belgrade with the White Helmets project promoted by Caritas Italiana. There, she carried out her service at the Obrenovac refugee camp. She is currently undertaking an internship with Caritas in the Diocese of Ugento–Santa Maria di Leuca.

Training in July 2024 in Rome on the theme of the reEvolution of the Works of Mercy

Citizen of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Author and researcher specialising in peace studies in the DRC. Specialised in international cooperation and strategic negotiation at the National School of Diplomacy, Negotiation and Mediation of the University of Martyrs of Congo. He conducts his research at the University of Martyrs of Congo and is an associate researcher with the Revue Africaine des Sciences Sociales, based in Cameroon.

Graduated from the Classical High School of Acireale, he holds a degree in Agricultural Science and Technology from the University of Catania, and has always been passionate about technology and journalism. A priest with a degree in Theology in Catania, he specialized in Pastoral Care at the Pontifical Theological Faculty of Palermo. He completed an internship at a TV station in New York, and is director of the Social Communications Office of the Diocese of Acireale and CESi. He is a freelance journalist.

A fidei donum priest of the Diocese of Bergamo, he has been in Cuba for 12 years in Jamal-Cabacu, where he is a parish priest. Among his various activities, he is involved in youth ministry.
He shares with the local people a daily life made of uncertainties, poverty, blackouts, and hopes.

He is currently parish priest in Castrignano del Capo (Lecce), where he accompanies the community in its liturgical, educational and social life.

He teaches Ecumenism at the Diocesan School of Theology, contributing to the formation of lay people and pastoral workers, with particular attention to dialogue among Churches. At diocesan level, he serves as Director of the Office for Ecumenism and the Migrantes Office, promoting initiatives for dialogue, welcome and integration.

Father Lucio Brentegani, born in 1971, is a fidei donum priest from Verona who was ordained in 2000. He has served as a missionary for 18 years in Guinea-Bissau, in the Diocese of Bafatá. Since March 2020, following the death of Bishop Pedro Zilli, he has served as Diocesan Administrator. He is also particularly committed to the education of young people, who make up a very large part of Guinea-Bissau’s population. He has also worked in social ministry and collaborated first with the national Caritas and then with the diocesan Caritas. “Above all, I have tried to proclaim the Gospel through my words and my life.”

Father Luigi, originally from Rosolini, was ordained a priest on June 24, 1993 by Msgr. Salvatore Nicolosi. On October 1 of the same year, he was appointed parish priest of Cristo Risorto in Montesano, of SS. Salvatore in Carbonaro di Rosolini and assistant parish priest of S. Giorgio and S. Teresa in Modica. On March 1, 1999, he became parish priest of the Chiesa SS. Crocifisso di Rosolini. Since September 15, 2008, he has been director of the Diocesan Office for Family Pastoral Care and, since October 27, 2009, Vice-Chancellor of the Diocese, Promoter of Justice and Defender of the Bond of the Diocesan Ecclesiastical Tribunal. Since February 11, 2010, he has also been diocesan assistant for the Confraternities and, since February 18 of the same year, Defender of the Bond at the Regional Ecclesiastical Tribunal. For six years, from June 29, 2012 to September 4, 2018, he was Rector of the Episcopal Seminary of Noto. Since September 14, 2012, he has been Responsible for Permanent Deacons in formation and ministry. On September 21, 2016, he was appointed moderator parish priest of San Corrado nella Cattedrale, San Giovanni alle Anime Sante, Carmine and Rotonda di Noto. In 2018, he was appointed parish priest of the Chiesa Madre San Giuseppe in Rosolini by Bishop Msgr. Antonio Staglianò. He is currently also Episcopal Vicar for Family and Youth Pastoral Care and vicar forane of Rosolini. On January 29, 2019, he was appointed Corrector of the Misericordia di Rosolini by the Bishop of Noto, Msgr. Antonio Staglianò.

Born in Bultei, Sardinia, on 2 March 1940, he is the youngest of seven children. After serving first as spiritual director at the Ozieri seminary and later as a worker-priest, in 1973 he left as a fidei donum missionary of the Diocese of Ozieri for São José do Rio Preto, where he remained until 2000. In Sardinia, he founded the END (Équipes Notre-Dame) and is Director of the Diocesan Missionary Centre of Ozieri. Author of Dio inventa e io gli vado dietro, L’amore fa la differenza and La Parola si fa vita, every day he also writes and shares his reflections through his highly appreciated “Passaparola”.

Priest originally from Togo, he came to Italy, to Ferrara, thanks to contact with the Mother General of the “Piccole Suore della Sacra Famiglia”. He is parish priest of Codifiume and director of the Migrantes Office of the Diocese of Ferrara-Comacchio.

Priest of the Diocese of Uvira in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

He graduated in Utroque Iure from the Pontifical Lateran University in 2024 and is a Professor of Canon Law at the Pio X Interdiocesan Seminary of the Ecclesiastical Province of Bukavu (since this year, the Pio X Theological Institute). He is a co-founder and member of the Mapendo Uvira ODV Association, based in Coreno-Ausonia, and coordinator of the Chaine de Membré Association, based in Uvira, DRC.

Parish priest at Sant’Andrea Corsini (Rome) until 2008, the priest, of Sardinian origins, served as a fidei donum missionary of the Diocese of Rome in Palestine, Jordan and Qatar. Having returned to Italy after the pandemic, the priest has a wide wealth of experiences and memories: from his mission in Jenin, a stronghold of Palestinian resistance, to his commitment with Syrian refugees in Jordan, including 140,000 children, etc.

Born in 1962 and originally from Como, she began travelling back and forth to Africa in 1985. A consecrated member of the Ordo Virginum since 2007, she served as a fidei donum missionary of the Diocese of Reggio Emilia in Bukavu, Democratic Republic of the Congo.

She was an English language teacher at IIS Chini in Borgo San Lorenzo and has been retired for a few years.
She is married to Umberto and is the mother of four children.
She grew up in the Parish of Pieve di Borgo San Lorenzo where, over the years, she served as a catechist, leader in parish summer camps, and later, with Umberto, guided and formed engaged couples preparing to celebrate the sacrament of marriage.
She follows her husband on the journey alongside spazio + spadoni and has embraced with joy and conviction Luigi's prophetic vision of entrusting projects to the sisters, and therefore to women, the undoubted pillars of our communities and the primary workers of Works of Mercy.

Brazilian from Itabaiana, Sergipe. Graduated in History from Universidade Estácio de Sá in Rio de Janeiro, in Philosophy from Universidade Claretiano in Curitiba, Brazil, and in Theology from Universidade Claretiano in Lisbon. Currently a seminarian in the Diocese of Lucca and a great devotee of Santa Gemma Galgani.

He was born on December 23, 1936 in Trezzo sull’Adda (MI). He came to know the Salesians of Treviglio and, fascinated by them, on August 16, 1954, made his religious profession in the Salesian Congregation. He graduated in Mathematics and Physics. He became a priest on April 10, 1965. Teaching and youth pastoral activities intertwined during the years he spent in Bologna, Pavia and Treviglio. At the Salesian Institute of Treviglio he taught mathematics and physics. In 1974, in Treviglio, he founded the non-governmental organization (NGO) Amici del Rwanda, later transformed into Amici dei Popoli, which enabled him to provide concrete aid for human development, but above all allowed him to give life to a form of education for global awareness that consists in preparing groups of young people whom he then accompanies to live for a month at Salesian missions, a kind of “master’s in humanity at the school of the poor”. In 1978 he was sent to Bologna as Parish Priest and Director of the Community in the Parish of San Giovanni Bosco: ten years of pastoral, social and missionary activities. His superiors called him to Turin in 1988 for two closely connected assignments: to give life to VIS, Volontariato Internazionale per lo Sviluppo, and to be the Missionary Animator for all Salesian Italy. He moved the headquarters of VIS to Rome, where the NGO flourished and reached the whole world with human development projects. Conferences, publications, educational aids and profiles of missionaries for missionary animation flourished, culminating every year in the Basilica of Mary Help of Christians in Turin in a three-day event called Harambèe, which has become a stable national appointment. With this missionary spirit, he prepares and accompanies hundreds of volunteers who, for two or more years, support the Salesians’ human development projects in Poor Countries. Since 2009 he has been responsible for the management of the Salesian Work of the Sacred Heart in Bologna.

A Capuchin Friar Minor born in 1975, he spent almost 20 years as a missionary in Alto Solimões, in the Amazon region on the border between Brazil and Peru. Travelling often by canoe, he reached 70 villages, sharing the lives and simple faith of the Indigenous people. Originally from the Varese area, he returned to Italy in the summer of 2025.

Friar Piero Sirianni, born in 1986, is a Capuchin Friar Minor in L'Aquila.
He earned a Doctorate in Dogmatic Theology and teaches at the “Fides et ratio” Higher Institute of Religious Sciences in L'Aquila. A freelance journalist, he collaborates with the online newspapers Fideliter.it and L’Aquilablog; he is also the author of several books.
He carries forward the Laudato si' community for commitment to integral ecology.
For a few months now, he has been Chaplain at the reopened Juvenile Penitentiary Institute in L'Aquila

Born in 1975, he lives in Frigento (AV). He is head of the Social Communications Office of the Archdiocese of Sant’Angelo dei Lombardi-Conza-Nusco-Bisaccia. Fara Editore in Rimini published his short-story collections Punto e virgola (2016) and Cosa vuoi che sia un anno (2020). Delta 3 Edizioni in Grottaminarda (AV) published his historical novel La grammatica della sottrazione (2022). La Bussola in Rome published Quirinale, 31 dicembre ore 20.30 (2024), an essay on the year-end addresses delivered during President Sergio Mattarella’s first term. The actor Angelo Sateriale staged two of his monologues: Spirito e sapienza. Il canonico Marciano De Leo (2019) and Montepeloso 1041. Il monologo di una battaglia (2024).

A true Apulian from Martina Franca (TA), where he lives with his wife Francesca and his daughter Chancelline, whom he met in Burundi. He is an engineer and works in the environmental field. He has a thousand passions, including good food, music and reading. He carries out missionary animation activities with children, teenagers and young people at the centers of the Consolata missionaries in Martina Franca and Turin. In 2009 and 2011, he had missionary experiences in Tanzania. In 2017, with 3 other fathers, he founded 4inzu OdV, an association created to build a home for orphaned children in Gitega. He designed the structure and supervised the work. In 2008 he self-published a story for young readers set in Burundi: “AMAHORO e sarà di nuovo pace”. Since 2020 he has also been part of the national team of Missio Ragazzi.

Married and father of five children, Gianluigi known as Gigi is a point of reference in the world of social and family commitment in Italy. He served as national president of the Forum delle Famiglie and president of the Fondazione per la Natalità, promoter of the Stati Generali della Natalità and creator of the active citizenship project “Immischiati”.
He has held various institutional positions. In 2005, president of Acli di Roma, the Patronato, and the Caf; in 2011, technical councillor for the Municipality of Rome with responsibilities for school, family, and youth policies.
His public commitment began with the organization of World Youth Day for the Jubilee of 2000 and was enriched by solidarity experiences in Africa.
A journalist and writer, he deals with education, family storytelling, and training in ethical leadership.

Giuseppe Angelucci lives in Limiti di Greccio, the hamlet where St Francis created the first live Nativity scene. He is married and has two daughters. In 2008, he was ordained a deacon. He serves at the “S. Maria di Loreto” Parish in Greccio, in the Diocese of Rieti.

She serves as linker for spazio + spadoni for the Kenya area. She organized the Forum on the reEvolution of the Works of Mercy in Nairobi, Kenya, on August 31 and September 1, 2024.

Date and place of birth: 1963, Bergamo. A graduate in Education from the University of Verona, he served as Managing Director and President of the Consorzio Nazionale della Cooperazione Sociale, Italy’s largest network of social enterprises. He is the founder and served as Chief Executive Officer and President of Welfare Italia Impresa Sociale, an organisation dedicated to developing services for families and inclusive social well-being. A consultant and trainer by education and vocation, he has taught at several Italian universities. He served as Chief Executive Officer of “On Srl Impresa Sociale” and as Chair of Vita’s “Advisory Board”. He is currently President of the participatory foundation “Communia”, la Rete dei Beni Comuni, and President of “è-one abitare generativo”. He is a member of the Scientific Committee of the Archivio della Generatività Sociale research group. He teaches at the Scuola di Economia Civile, where he contributes his experience of social enterprises, both in developing innovative ideas and promoting change and in field-testing new models of action.

Nacida en 1976, es periodista colaboradora y apasionada por el mundo misionero. Originaria del Salento, vive en Palermo desde 2007 con Rino y sus hijas, Greta y Gaia. De 2000 a 2003 fue secretaria nacional del Movimento Giovanile Missionario delle Pontificie Opere Missionarie en Roma y forma parte del equipo nacional de Missio Ragazzi. Actualmente colabora con la revista “Popoli e Missione” de la Fondazione Missio y con spazio + spadoni.

Luigi Cesare Pizzi Spadoni was born in Versilia (LU). His education was deeply marked by his experience in a Salesian boarding school, where there was a strong missionary sensitivity. For over fifty years he has been a Confrere of the Misericordia di Camaiore e Lido, and he was among the founders of the Misericordia del Lido di Camaiore. As a boy, he worked at the historic Hotel Souvenir in Lido di Camaiore, owned by his father Giuseppe and his mother Bianca Maria. His parents taught him the importance of responsibility, because “every action has weight” and “freedom is not a right, but a conscious choice to do good”. It was in their example that he grew up, inclined to faith and hope, to live the present and look to the future with confidence, even in difficulty. He interrupted his university studies to work with a leading ambulance outfitter as a sales agent and product developer. In 1988 he founded Spencer Italia, a company producing medical devices for emergency and rescue. His intuitions, ideas and entrepreneurial spirit created a reality that became a world leader in the EMS sector, able to respond to the demands of a constantly growing and continuously changing market. For more than thirty years, Luigi invented and patented life-saving equipment, developed markets in every country of the world, cultivated personal relationships with the thousands of people he dealt with and created hundreds of jobs. In 2020 he sold the company with the star to dedicate himself to a new phase of his life, leaving behind a dynamic, healthy reality respected everywhere for its solidity. It was then that he began to give shape to his dream, spazio + spadoni, a movement of Catholic inspiration that combines mercy and missionary spirit through relationships with missionary female religious congregations and volunteer associations around the world. His private collection of historic ambulances from all over the world became a museum open to visitors in 2010 and is located in the province of Parma. In 2023 he received honorary citizenship of the city of Rosolini (SR) and the Palma d’argento – Iustus ut palma florebit award established by the Diocese of Acireale together with Rosario Valastro, President of the Italian Red Cross.

Economist and historian of economic thought. With a keen interest in biblical studies, ethics and literature, he is an expert on religious congregations, volunteering and purpose-driven organisations. He is Full Professor of Political Economy at LUMSA and Visiting Professor at the Sophia University Institute in Loppiano. Together with his colleague Stefano Zamagni, he promoted and co-founded the SEC – Scuola di Economia Civile. He is Coordinator of the Scientific Committee of “The Economy of Francesco”, which is encouraging young people worldwide to reflect and develop proposals for a change in the economic and social paradigm. He is a columnist for Avvenire.

Born in Turin and married to Marina, he studied theology in Genoa and biblical studies in Rome and teaches religious education at upper secondary school. He has translated several books from French, English and Spanish, works as a guide in the Holy Land and enjoys mountain trekking.

With degrees in Economics and Education Sciences, she taught at several upper secondary schools in Turin. She currently devotes herself fully to volunteering, both within the parish and in education, teaching Italian as a second language (L2) to migrants. Since October 2021, she has written the newsletter “La Chiesa che ispira – Spazio di riflessione sulla Chiesa Cattolica, oggi” and is actively involved in the national campaigns “Stop smartphone e social sotto i 14 e 16 anni”.

Born in Conversano, in the south-east of the Bari area, in 1992, she teaches religion in the Diocese of Turin. She was Regional Secretary of Missio Giovani Puglia from 2015 to 2019 and a member of the National Council of Missio Giovani Italia until 2023. She continues to be active in this field. She was also a member of the Council of the Missionary Office of the Archdiocese of Turin and collaborates in the missionary formation of young people in the same diocese. Author of the book “Amare, voce del Verbo…” – Come esperienze e vite intrecciate mi hanno fatto conoscere l’amore (Edizioni San Paolo).

Born in Côte d’Ivoire, she is consecrated in the Focolare Movement. She currently carries out her mission in Belgium.

An intercultural mediator, he works for the Gagliano del Capo Territorial District (LE) on a mediation project involving the municipalities and schools of southern Salento. His training and professional activity began during the pandemic, when he supported foreign nationals isolated by the lockdown on behalf of the Diocesan Caritas of Ugento-Santa Maria di Leuca. “From those people, who had no family ties nearby and were very far from home, I learnt to recognise a sense of community that enabled them to overcome difficult times.” Since then, he has been responsible for “Nessuno è straniero”, the diocesan support centre for foreign nationals.

Sacerdote della Diocesi di Lucca. Autore del libro "Giuseppe di Nazaret alla ricera del suo vero volto".

Born in 1951, he has been Bishop of the Diocese of Bergamo since 15 March 2009. He studied at the Seminary of Brescia and was ordained a priest on 7 June 1975. For several years, he served as Director of the Family Office and Director of the Centro Paolo VI. He was subsequently appointed Episcopal Vicar for the Laity and Pro-Vicar General. Within the Italian Episcopal Conference, he is a member of the Episcopal Commission for the Evangelisation of Peoples and Cooperation between the Churches.

Inglese
Egyptian, consecrated in the Focolare Movement, of the Coptic Catholic Church. She lived her service in the Movement in Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq and Rome. She is currently in Loppiano to obtain a master’s degree in Trinitarian Ontology at the Sophia University Institute. She recorded 16 episodes on Radio Maria Iraq entitled “Works of Mercy for a Better World”, a project supported by spazio + spadoni and available on the YouTube page https://www.youtube.com/@spaziospadoni/podcasts.

Nicole Kusinza Sifa, born on January 16, 1994 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (Bukavu), graduated in Pharmacy from the Official University of Bukavu. For several years she worked as chief pharmacist at Skyborne Hospital in Goma. Before the war, Nicole was working at Boldness Medical in Goma, a private facility for quality control of medicines and other medical devices. With the war, the facility was destroyed and is no longer operational. In addition to her profession, Nicole has been involved in promoting education on the proper use of medicines, the fight against counterfeit medicines, and access for vulnerable people to basic medicines. Nicole is registered on the list of pharmacists of Congo. She is married and the mother of two children.

Antonino “Nino” Savarino was mayor of Rosolini, a small town in the province of Syracuse. Graduated in Law, he is a criminal lawyer and was Honorary Deputy Magistrate in the Magistrates’ Courts of Noto and Pachino. Promoter and founder of the Misericordia di Rosolini, of which he is Governor, he was Zonal Coordinator of the Misericordie of Ragusa and Syracuse. He was president of the Fratres Blood Donors Group and is currently a member of the National Board of Arbitrators of the Confederazione delle Misericordie. A writer and musician, he enjoys playing the electric guitar and is part of the musical group “Talè cu c’è”.

Father Alessio Geraci was born in Palermo on 11 June 1983, the only child of Gabriella and Vincenzo. He studied foreign languages at secondary school and continued his studies at university, driven by the desire to undertake missionary work. After several years as a lay missionary, particularly in Argentina, he joined the Comboni Missionaries. He served as a missionary in Peru from 2014 to 2019 and in Italy from 2019 to 2024, working among and alongside young people. In October 2024, he returned to Peru, to the southern outskirts of Lima, where he is currently parish priest of the “Cristo Misionero del Padre” Parish in Chorrillos.

Born in 1973, Father Angelo left 25 years ago as a fidei donum missionary of the Archdiocese of Naples to serve in Guatemala. He remained there as a missionary to accompany those who have now become his people. He is currently in Italy for health reasons, but his heart remains in Tacaná, where the projects he is carrying out with the Hermana Tierra association and the “Los Angelitos” paediatric clinic continue. The clinic was founded to care for malnourished children. The Guatemalan municipality presented him with an award “for his outstanding example of missionary service, commitment and dedication for the benefit of communities on the outskirts of Guatemala, in pursuit of a better world where justice, love and peace are practised”.

Born in Parma in 1980, he is the fifth of six children and a Xaverian missionary. After entering the seminary in Parma following his diploma as a surveyor, in 2003 he joined the Xaverians, where he took his vows in 2007. He became a priest in 2012. He spent 10 years on mission in Cameroon, working in youth missionary animation. Since 2018 he has been in Italy and in September 2025 he will leave for the Xaverian mission in Chad.

Camillian priest, he consecrated his life to brothers and sisters in difficulty, founding for them, in Italy and around the world, Le Tende di Cristo, which today are numerous places of family-style welcome where the marginalized are cared for and where mercy is lived daily.

Jesuit, theologian, sociologist and clinical pedagogist, he is director in Palermo of the “Pedro Arrupe” Institute of Political Formation – Social Studies Center. He is also a lecturer in Cultural Anthropology and Sociology of Religious Processes, and an expert in training on public policies and evaluation of educational processes.

Born in Salerno in 1967, he joined the Xaverian family on 12 September 1988. After studying philosophy in Desio in 1990, he made his first profession in 1991. He then studied theology in Parma, including a missionary experience in Bangladesh, and was ordained a missionary priest in Parma in 1998. Initially assigned to the Xaverian house in Desio as a missionary vocation coordinator, he was transferred to Salerno in 2003, where he remained until 2007, when he returned to Bangladesh. He has been there for 15 years. Many people know him as Fr Giuà.

Fidei donum priest of the Diocese of Pinerolo (Turin), he was a missionary in North Kivu for 50 years, since 1971. Since 1994, he has accompanied his people in the construction of the village of Muhanga. Born in 1938, he returned to Italy in 2021, where his mission has changed but has not stopped: speaking about Africa, always keeping attention high on what is happening in North Kivu. He published “Fiori selvaggi… profumo d’Africa” and “Muhanga. Parole e storie d’Africa” (2017).

Xaverian missionary. Originally from Piedmont, he served as a missionary in Africa for thirteen and a half years, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Cameroon. Since 2020, he has been involved in missionary outreach in Cagliari. A freelance journalist, he contributes to various publications.

Born in 1978, a Milanese PIME missionary, he is in Detroit, Michigan (USA). His vocation, born in 1999 during a trip to India, changed his life and plans. At the beginning of his mission, he was in Milan; then, from 2013 to 2020, he was sent to Algeria. In 2015, to make good use of what he had inherited from his family, he created the “Darefrutto” Foundation, which deals, among other things, with environmental education. Author of several publications, he was also organizational director of the second edition of the Festival della Missione held in Milan in 2022. In November 2023 he left for Myanmar, ancient Burma, where he remained for one year. Since October 2024, he has been sharing the mission in the USA at the new PIME headquarters, in the city of Farmington Hills, where he has been entrusted with the role of Head of Communication and Development of the PIME Mission Center of Detroit and Director of Vocations.

Father Rinaldo Do, originally from Valcamonica, is a Consolata missionary in Africa, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. In thirty years of mission in Africa, he has traveled the Democratic Republic of the Congo far and wide and has placed himself at the service of the poor by digging wells, building houses, schools, dispensaries and nutritional centers, and also buying bicycles. He has endured malaria, Ebola and the guerrilla warfare of the northern rebels. He received the “Cuore Amico” Award in 2020.

A Consolata Missionary, he is originally from Morrovalle (Macerata). Ordained a priest in 1984 in Haut-Uele, Democratic Republic of the Congo, then known as Zaire, where he had gone to exercise his ministry as a deacon, he continued his service there by working in the missions, formation and regional leadership. He also guided the community during the difficult transition from Mobutu’s rule to the new republican government. For twelve years, from 2011 to 2023, he served as Superior General of the Consolata Missionaries. Since 2024, he has been in Ivory Coast, in the Diocese of Dianra. “After 40 years of priesthood, you ask yourself what else you can do as a missionary,” he reflected. For him, the most logical answer was to leave once again.

Priest of the Archdiocese of Kisangani, Democratic Republic of the Congo. Director of the Diocesan Pastoral Center for Theological and Moral Studies.

Paola Carmen Salamino was an art history teacher. Consecrated in the Secular Institute of the “Servi della Sofferenza”, desired by Padre Pio and implemented by Msgr. Pierino Galeone, whose charism is to serve suffering through the Works of Mercy.

Archbishop of the Diocese of Lucca. In May 2021, he was elected President of the Episcopal Commission for the Family, Youth and Life, leaving his roles as a member of the Episcopal Commission for Education, Schools and Universities and as youth delegate of the Tuscan Episcopal Conference. He was born in Perugia, in the Archdiocese of Perugia–Città della Pieve, on 1 January 1964. After two years at university, he entered the seminary in Assisi, where he spent six years and attended the Theological Institute of Assisi, obtaining a bachelor’s degree in theology. He was ordained a deacon on 28 October 1990 and a priest on 29 September 1991. During his youth and his time at the seminary, he was particularly committed to the pastoral care of younger generations. After his ordination, he continued to pursue this passion by attending the Pontifical Salesian University and specialising in catechetics and youth ministry. From 1991 to 1995, he lived and worked in the parish of San Sisto. From 1995 to 2001, Bishops Antonelli and Chiaretti appointed him to work full-time with young people as head of the diocesan office, chaplain to several youth associations (AC and FUCI), coordinator of conscientious objectors and chaplain to the “S. Giuseppe Cafasso” community for prisoners run by the diocesan Caritas. In September 2001, he was appointed head of the National Youth Ministry Service of the CEI, a position he held for six years, marked by the World Youth Days in Toronto and Cologne and by the meeting of young Italians with Benedetto XVI in Loreto in September 2007 (Agorà dei giovani italiani). From December 2007 to October 2011, he was parish priest of the Pastoral Unit of Ponte San Giovanni. From June 2010, he served as Vicar General of the Diocese of Perugia–Città della Pieve. On 10 August 2014, he was ordained a bishop, serving as auxiliary to Cardinal Archbishop Gualtiero Bassetti and as Titular Bishop of Termini Imerese. On 19 January 2019, he was appointed Archbishop of Lucca, where he began his ministry on 12 May of the same year.

He was born on August 10, 1966, in Mecanhelas, in the province of Niassa, in northern Mozambique.
He was ordained a priest on October 20, 1996.
In 2003 he obtained a doctorate in Theology at the Pontifical Urban University in Rome.
He was rector of the St. Pius X Theological Seminary in Maputo, vicar general of the Diocese of Lichinga, and vice-rector for Pastoral Care and Social Action at the Catholic University of Mozambique (UCM).
In September 2022 he was appointed director of the Secretariat of the Inter-Regional Meeting of Bishops of Southern Africa (IMBISA).
He published a booklet titled "For me yes to initiation, but…" and a book titled "Once Father R. Sapato said…".
In April 2026 he was appointed vicar general of the Diocese of Lichinga.

A journalist of Neapolitan origins, for over 15 years he worked in politics as a press officer, until his encounter with Brother Biagio Conte changed his life, leading him to move to Palermo to live as a volunteer within the Mission ‘Speranza e Carità’. This choice has been shared since 2018 with his wife Barbara, whom he married in 2016. In recent years, in addition to writing for several publications, he has also devoted himself to spreading the revelations of Jesus to Luisa Piccarreta, contained in the book ‘Le 24 Ore della Passione di Nostro Signore Gesù Cristo’. Since March 6, 2025, he has hosted “Verità di Cielo”, a program curated by the Piccoli Figli di Palermo and broadcast on Maria Vision Italia (channel 255), which tells the stories of ordinary people in order to give hope.

Born in 1958, Rita is originally from Sardinia, from Quartu Sant’Elena, the eleventh of 12 children. A consecrated religious of the Villaregia Missionary Community, she has been on mission in Latin America for 40 years. Since 2014 she has been in Puerto Rico, in the Community of Arecibo, and since November 2023 she has been traveling back and forth to the Diocese of San Juan de la Maguana, one of the poorest provinces of the Dominican Republic.

Both born and raised in Florence, they are married and have a daughter, Costanza. In May 2000, they left as fidei donum missionaries for Turkey, where they lived for 21 years. Their mission took place mainly in the remote East of Anatolia, in a predominantly Kurdish area that is a destination for Afghan and Iranian refugees. Upon returning in 2021, they chose to move to Ragusa, in Sicily, where they serve at a family counseling center and support Father Cesare Geroldi. Their bond with Turkey continues: not only through summer visits, but also by continuing to support what they call “la scuolina”, set up for refugee girls and women. Roberto is the author of 3 books: Dost, Via dello Stupore and Cristalli di Neve, fiocchi di Cotone, whose correction and revision Gabriella helped with.

Date and Place of Birth: 13/12/1988 Democratic Republic of the Congo. Graduated in “Economics and Management” from the Evangelical University of Bukavu. In Italy, in Loppiano, he attended several courses in Economy of Communion, Biblical Economy and Civil Economy. Rodrigue speaks French, English, Italian and Swahili. For spazio + spadoni, he follows the development of social enterprises for the various HIC SUM projects in the Congolese territory and promotes the Forums on the reEvolution of the Works of Mercy. He organized the Forum on the reEvolution of the Works of Mercy in Kisangani, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, on September 18, 19 and 20, 2024.

A woman from Palermo nearing 50, she carries with her a wealth of experiences and a great love for life. For almost 20 years she was a flight attendant, through which she came to know many countries and met people from various backgrounds and cultures. “I have worked a lot on myself, in listening to others and in observing how much diversity and beauty characterize the world and the people who inhabit it. Now, with great passion and love, I want to share and bear witness to how the courage of faith and the awareness of being children help us find the value and true meaning of our existence.”

He holds a degree in Nuclear Physics from UNIPV. He has two children, Giorgio and Teresa, and a little dog named Ettore. For more than ten years, he conducted research into the “mathematical theory of complexity” and mathematical models. He also worked for several years at STMicroelectronics. He is the author of scientific articles on applied mathematics and taught mathematics as an adjunct lecturer at UNICT for several years. Finally, for more than twenty years, he served as Scientific Director of the Consorzio Universitario Mediterraneo Orientale di Noto. Speaker at the Convention “Fare Spazio alla riEvoluzione delle Opere di Misericordia”.

A graduate in Social Sciences from the University of Pisa, she first encountered missionary work in 2012 through a one-month experience in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which she repeated in 2013. Since then, she has always worked in the social and voluntary sectors, both professionally and out of personal commitment. In 2018, she spent a brief but meaningful period volunteering in Bethlehem. In 2023, she returned to missionary work with the Sorelle di Santa Gemma in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where she remained for three months. In 2024, she spent one month in Ivory Coast, once again at one of the missions of the Sorelle di Santa Gemma. She has been Secretary of spazio + spadoni since 2020.

Serena Arcoria has been a volunteer with the Misericordia di Adrano since 2023 and has served as its secretary since 2025. She grew up in a parish youth centre, an environment she continues to attend and which contributed to her personal development. In March 2025, she took part in the HIC SUM project in Madagascar. Her writing draws on her experiences of service and community life.

She was born on March 5, 1973. Since 2005 she has been the correspondent of the national press agency Redattore Sociale, with which she still collaborates today. She has always had a passion for reading and writing. She pursued legal and sociological studies that refined her social expertise, leading her to choose to become a journalist. What she prefers about her profession is the possibility of listening to people by going beyond first appearances: “doing journalism can become an exercise in freedom only if they allow you to do it”. Today, she is responsible for press offices on behalf of several associations and collaborates with Il Mediterraneo24.

Nato a Lucca nel 1961, dove vive e lavora. Da sempre attivo nel mondo del volontariato, fa parte dell’Arciconfraternita di Misericordia di Lucca e del Centro Nazionale del Volontariato, dopo aver ricoperto vari incarichi in realtà diverse ed essere stato Presidente del Centro Servizi per il volontariato per due mandati.

Alla passione per la storia di Lucca, quella medioevale e quella religiosa, affianca l'interesse per la fotografia e il collezionismo. Ha organizzato diverse mostre inerenti l’iconografia sacra, di cui è un appassionato collezionista.

Sergio fa parte dei Senior, ovvero di coloro che definiscono i contenuti e i metodi da utilizzare per la diffusione del messaggio di OPERA M.

Religious sister in the Congregation of the Sisters of Our Lady of Good Counsel of Mbarara, Uganda. She obtained a degree in Theology and a master’s degree in Canon Law. A project manager, she worked at the Tribunal of the Diocese. She carried out the HIC SUM project at the Misericordia di Canosa di Puglia. In 2025, together with spazio + spadoni, her Congregation and the Diocese of Mbarara, she organized the Forum on the reEvolution of the Works of Mercy.

A professional journalist since 1991, she specialises in communications, religious news and women’s issues. A religious sister of the Figlie di San Paolo, she is involved in education on legality and multiculturalism and contributes to Avvenire’s culture pages, Famiglia Cristiana and the magazine Jesus. She lives in Palermo.

Originally from Fiorano Modenese (Emilia Romagna), she is a Xaverian missionary.
Currently, she serves the community of Cava de’ Tirreni, in Salerno; previously, the mission called her to Africa and Asia.
She spent 14 years in Sierra Leone, 5 in China, and 12 in Thailand, where she worked as a physiotherapist.
In 1995, she was involved in a 56-day kidnapping by RUF rebels.

She obtained a Diploma in Catechetical and Pastoral Theology. During her 18 years of religious life in the Mexican Congregation of the Missionary Catechist Sisters of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary, she carried out several missions in the north, south and center of Mexico. She worked with groups of families, children and young people, where she shared the life of faith and, above all, discovered God’s immense love for families. “Being with families and serving the neediest with joy is one of the experiences I am most passionate about, and God has granted me the grace of being in different parishes and Dioceses of the country,” she said. She carried out the HIC SUM project at the Misericordia di Rosolini together with her fellow sister, Sister Perla.

A missionary of the Figlie di Maria Ausiliatrice from Lombardy, after spending the first five years of her religious life in Milan, she was sent to Oceania, to the Solomon Islands, where she has lived for 18 years. First in the Diocese of Gizo and then in the capital, Honiara, she has always worked in education according to the Salesian approach. The girls whom the FMA welcome each year in the hostel and meet at the vocational school are the main beneficiaries of her mission, although parish life is also very active.

Originally from Bogliasco, in the province of Genoa, Sister Attilia Bario has been a missionary for 50 years and belongs to the Missionary Sisters of Our Lady of Apostles. She lives in northern Ivory Coast, where she works in youth ministry, particularly in grassroots education for peace and non-violence. At the heart of her vocation is the ability to meet and get to know people, welcoming the unique way in which each person expresses themselves and communicates.

A religious sister of the “Religieuses de l’Instruction Chrétienne” Congregation, she lives in Goma, Democratic Republic of the Congo. She holds a degree in Clinical Psychology and is a university lecturer. She implemented the HIC SUM project of spazio + spadoni.

Sister Freeda belongs to the Indian Congregation of the Franciscan Sisters of Saint Thomas. Graduated in Psychology with a specialization, she also studied to become a family counselor. With the help of spazio + spadoni, the Congregation opened a community in Anghiari, where Freeda is now based and where, together with Sister Pravina, she works with the local Misericordia.

Sister Gaudence is a sister of Burundian nationality. Born on July 5, 1975, she attended the Catholic University of Kabgayi in Rwanda from 2005 to 2010. She holds a degree in Journalism. From 2010 to 2014, she was editor-in-chief of Radio Maria Burundi. From 2014 to 2019, she was novitiate instructor (Mistress of Novices) at her religious institute, the Family of the Disciples of Christ. From 2019 to 2024, she was director of the Monsignor Bernard Bududira Technical High School. She is currently an instructor at the Kiryama Novitiate in Bururi.

Vicar of the Missionary Congregation of the Sisters of Saint Gemma. After obtaining a diploma as a Social Services Technician and one in Theology, she earned degrees in Religious Sciences, Human Sciences and Educational Sciences. On several occasions, she was a trainer for the sisters who carried out projects with spazio + spadoni.

Consecrated laywoman in the Movimento dei Focolari. She is part of the Cotonou Community in Benin. She serves as a linker for spazio + spadoni. She organised the Forum sulla riEvoluzione delle Opere di Misericordia in Cotonou, Benin, on 25 and 26 November 2024.

Religious sister of the Missionary Congregation of the Sisters of Saint Gemma. She is a nurse and a primary school teacher. She lives her mission in Sago, in Côte d’Ivoire, after several years spent in Kavimvira in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Graduated in Economics, she belongs to the Congregation of the Figlie di Maria Missionarie. She has a great passion for India. Today she is in the land of the East, close to the people, trying to be a face of mercy and learning from others. She professed her perpetual vows in 2024. Today she is 44 years old.

Religious sister of the Missionary Congregation of the Sisters of Saint Gemma. She is a nurse and a primary school teacher. She lives her mission in Sago, in Côte d’Ivoire, after several years spent in Kavimvira in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Sister Joan Chemeli Langat belongs to the Sisters of St. Joseph of Mombasa Kenya, a diocesan Congregation under the Archdiocese of Mombasa. She professed her perpetual vows on August 15, 2018. Their charism is to witness in simplicity to the saving and evangelizing mission of Jesus Christ among the people with whom they live and interact, in response to the signs of the times. Sister Joan is an Ambassador of the Works of Mercy in Kenya for spazio + spadoni. She is currently in the community of Kwale, where she carries forward the social enterprise developed through the HIC SUM project.

Religious sister of the Suore Betlemite, she lives in Cameroon, in Bafia, where she is in charge of the Diocesan Office for the Works of Mercy, created after the Forum on the reEvolution of the Works of Mercy promoted by spazio + spadoni and organized in the diocese. She graduated in Educational Sciences and Theology, and obtained a specialist degree in Pedagogical Sciences.

Brazilian and born in São Paulo, she is a member of the community of the Missionary Sisters of the Immaculate of PIME. After arriving in Hong Kong in 1989, she served in Italy within the general administration of her Congregation from 2006 to 2019. She returned to Hong Kong in January 2020, shortly before the beginning of the pandemic. In the Tsuen Wan district, she supports the pastoral work of the Parish of Saints Cosmas and Damian and takes part in monthly visits to people experiencing homelessness.

Originally from the beautiful port of San Carlos, Baja California Sur, she currently lives in Mexico City. For 30 years she has been a consecrated religious missionary of the Institute Missionarie Catechiste dei Sacri Cuori di Gesù e di Maria. She has had the blessing of serving in Spain, Equatorial Guinea and in various regions of her beloved Mexico. She deeply loves being on mission, sharing faith, hope and love with every community. A phrase that always accompanies her: “For a courageous heart, nothing is impossible” – by Mother Sofía Garduño Nava.

Computer engineer specialising in digital technologies and public policy. Psychosociologist specialising in the development and improvement of interpersonal skills and community leadership capabilities. Risk manager during periods of crisis. Lecturer at the “Newtech Institut” University Institute.

Date and Place of Birth: 02/05/1957 Borgo San Lorenzo (FI). He was a physical education teacher at IIS Chini in Borgo San Lorenzo and has recently retired. Trainer for teachers for the USP of Florence. Specialist handball coach, UEFA – FIGC football instructor, CONI Tuscany Technical Coordinator, Trainer for the Tuscany School of Sport 2008–2012. In the past, he was a member of the Diocesan Pastoral Council of Florence, catechist, animator of the Parish summer camps, and confrere of the Misericordia di Borgo San Lorenzo, of which he was Provveditore from 2011 to 2020. He was representative of the Florentine Misericordie in the Diocesan Council of Florence. Together with his wife Donatella, he was on mission in Côte d’Ivoire, in Bonua, in May and November 2016. He began his journey alongside spazio + spadoni by becoming Ambassador of the HIC SUM project. Today, Umberto is part of the Seniors, namely those who define the content and methods to be used for spreading the message of OPERA M. Every week he reads the commentary on the Sunday Gospel by biblical scholar Carlo Miglietta to enrich the column “Buona Misericordia a tutti!”, visible in the online magazine “Mission” and on the YouTube page of spazio + spadoni.

Umberto A. Palagi, teacher of Dogmatic Theology at the School of Theological Formation of the Diocese of Lucca, formerly a teacher of Catholic Religious Education in upper secondary schools. He collaborates with the weekly “In Cammino – Toscana Oggi”. Author of several publications, including: “L’amore la sua vita il suo testamento. 80° del martirio di don Aldo Mei”, Tralerighe ed, Lucca 2024; “La Madonna del Sasso, un exemplum mariano nella vita religiosa lucchese” Quaderni di fede e cultura, Lucca 2003; “La Luminara di Santa Croce nel tempo”, Marco Puccinelli – Umberto Palagi, BdC editore, Lucca 2021.

A young Timorese man born 23 years ago on the outskirts of the capital Dili, he experienced first-hand the difficulties of access to education and healthcare, but it was precisely from those social wounds that he drew the strength to become very active today in volunteering and works of mercy.