A delegation of the "United States of the World" and the "Fondazione Mediterraneo", exclusively as ‘observers’, attended the BRICS held in Moscow, Kazan, on the banks of the Volga. Secretary General Michele Capasso commented: "Instead of uniting in a single ‘whole’ - such as that of the United States of the World - they continue to create rifts by feeding rampant egoism when there is a gigantic ‘love gap’ in the world to be filled. Exploiting a certain anti-Western resentment fosters the paralysis of that global cooperation that is already in crisis: climate change, debt crisis, food security are just some of the topics that resonate with insistence in the meetings taking place around the world and are issues that also weigh heavily on the geopolitical dynamics of a world torn apart by conflicts and rivalries. The slowness with which the global financial system has reacted to the new challenges, the need for partnerships with the global South and a more bottom-up driven development, the objective of accelerating the fight against poverty in the face of growing inequalities: there is also this in the terms of the dialectic with the Brics that does not appear in any of the working tables".
A delegation from the "United States of the World" and the ‘Fondazione Mediterraneo’ participated in the event, which brought together delegates from 200 governments and around ten thousand representatives of various organisations in southwest Colombia. This year's COP16 takes place in Cali, capital of the department of Valle del Cauca (Colombia), between 21 October and 1 November 2024. The slogan ‘Peace with Nature’ is a call for reflection to improve the relationship we have with the environment, to rethink an economic model that does not prioritise extraction, overexploitation and pollution of nature. "This World Conference on Biodiversity - said Secretary General Michele Capasso - is one of the last opportunities to preserve the inestimable cultural heritage of the planet, and it is being held in a country and a city where the contradictions in terms of respect for Creation are most evident.Colombia is, in fact, an unparalleled treasure chest of biodiversity.According to the most up-to-date data, it is the second largest country in the world.The only one on the continent where practically all the natural environments of South America exist: the Andes and the Amazon, the Atlantic and the Pacific, the desert, the savannah and the great plains, the Caribbean islands and the long rivers". But Colombia is also, and by far, the most dangerous country in the world for environmental defenders: 73 murders in 2023, 40 per cent of all those on the planet. They are those who fight against illegal mining, drug trafficking, monocultures, deforestation. For the first time, South America is hosting a world intervention on the environment, in anticipation of next year's climate conference in Belém, Brazil, and this is taking place in a city that symbolises Colombian violence. For this very reason, in Colombia, ‘COP16’ is seen as a great opportunity. It raises hopes, of which both the Church and, more generally, civil society and popular movements are spokesmen. The Colombian Church has a massive presence at the conference. The programme includes conferences, forums, congresses, exhibitions and documentary screenings, organised in particular by the Archdiocese of Cali, the Episcopal Conference of Colombia, the Episcopal Council of Latin America and the Caribbean (CELAM) and the Pan-Amazonian Ecclesial Network (Repam). Also present in Cali is a representation of the Vatican Dicastery for the Service of Integral Human Development, as well as the Apostolic Nuncio, Msgr. Paolo Rudelli.
From 18 to 26 October 2024 Charles III and Queen Camilla were on an official visit to Australia and Samoa. It was a highly anticipated trip, prepared with the utmost care and attended by members and ambassadors of the "United States of the World". Charles III and Queen Camilla landed in Sydney for a six-day tour of Australia, his 16th visit to the country, the first since he became king on 22 September 2022. In honour of the sovereigns, images of royal family members visiting Australia were projected onto the Sydney Opera House. The royals' visit also reopened the debate on whether Australia should move from monarchy to republic with an Australian head of state. The current Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is in fact a supporter of the transformation. In the past few days, Charles himself had said that he was not against this transformation, which would however have to be a free choice of the Australian people.
On the occasion of the meeting with Pope Francis, Secretary-General Michele Capasso and Pia Molinari donated to the Holy Father a canvas bag made by the mothers of Gaza who have had children killed by the conflict: on the bag, in addition to the flag of the United States of the World’, is written “Holy Father help us, we pray for you!”.
Secretary General Professor Michele Capasso - accompanied by Pia Molinari - during a cordial meeting with Pope Francis dedicated the first copy of the book "United States of the World. A History Truly of God". A large part of the one thousand two hundred pages - testifying to the choral action carried out by the "United States of the World" over the last forty years - is dedicated to Pope Francis. The Pontiff lingered at length flipping through the pages in which, with a selection of images accompanying the text, the main stages of his pontificate are witnessed: the meeting with SG Capasso in Luján (Argentina) in 2008, the first trip to Lampedusa in 2013 and the meeting with members of the "United States of the World" engaged on the island in the "Peace Laboratories", the trips to Manila and other parts of the world, up to the recent trips to Asia, Oceania, Luxembourg and Belgium.
Moved, the Holy Father relived many significant moments: from the meeting for inter-religious dialogue in Abu Dhabi (September 2019) to the solitude of the "Way of the Cross in St. Peter's Square" (April 2020); from his dialogues with Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini to his incessant appeals for peace, against all wars; from his meeting in the Vatican with Shimon Peres, Abu Mazen and Bartholomew I (June 2014) to his recent visit to Venice with young people (April 2024); from his weeping before the statue of the Immaculate Conception in Rome (December 2022) to his participation in the G7 in Puglia (June 2024); from his meeting with Queen Elizabeth II (April 2014) to his meeting with the Salesians in Turin (June 2024); from the Naples Colloquium on the Mediterranean (June 2019) to his meeting with the Jesuits in Belgium (September 2024); from his visit to the "Totem for Peace" in the port of Naples with the urn of the "Unknown Migrant" (March 2015) to his prayers in the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome. At the end of the meeting, Pope Francis thanked for the "filial devotion" and personally took the book, thanking for the "precious gift", calling it "This is the Book of the Heart". Then, turning to Michele Capasso and Pia Molinari he exclaimed: ‘Read my new encyclical in the coming days, it is dedicated precisely to the Heart of Jesus... and do not forget to pray for me!’
