AMI at the Fifth International Course for Military Chaplains on Humanitarian Law

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The Congregation for Bishops and the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development promoted the 5th International Course for the Formation of Catholic Military Chaplains to International Humanitarian Law that took place from 29-31 October 2019, in Rome at the Institutum Patristicum Augustinianum.

This course was on the theme “The Deprivation of Liberty in the Context of Armed Conflicts. The Mission of Military Chaplains” and has been celebrated whithin the context of the 70th Anniversary of the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949.

AMI President, Vice-Adm (ret.) Matthieu Borsboom, was invited to present the topic “Detention in the context of multilateral operations” at the presence of 26 Military Bishops and several Military Chaplains coming from all over the world.

It was a three-day event with lecturers, debates and working group sections that, in addition to the AMI President, has seen the participation of the AMI Secretary General Col. Domenico D’Ortenzi and the AMI Ecclesiastical Assistant Brig. Gen. Dolan Fr. Patrick. This was the right opportunity for the AMI Executive Committee to introduce the AMI purposes/new initiatives including the AMI-App – TwG (Tweeting with God), to the Military Bishops and military chaplains that are not yet aware about our Organization. The purpose is always the same: to strengthen the bonds with old and new friends and to enlarge our AMI community in order to be closer and closer to our soldiers and to the Holy See.

The end of the 5th course couldn’t have finished better: a private audience with our beloved Pope Francis. All the participants had the opportunity to meet Pope Francis and to shake his hand saying a few words. Pope Francis gave a speech emphasizing the importance to view the other not as an enemy, but with intrinsic dignity.