Holy See, Award Ceremony for the 7th Literary Prize “Ambassadors to the Holy See”

The Italian Embassy of Italy and the Delegation of the European Union to the Holy See organised the award ceremony for the 7th Literary Prize "Ambassadors to the Holy See" at Palazzo Borromeo.

The Italian Ambassador, Francesco Di Nitto, and the European Union Ambassador to the Holy See, Martin Selmayr, presented the award to Giulia Ceccutti, author of Respirare il futuro - La sfida di Neve Shalom e Wahat al-Salam (published by In Dialogo - ITL Libri). The book recounts the experience of the village of Neve Shalom-Wahat al-Salam, founded over fifty years ago between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, where Jews and Palestinians live together in a spirit of equality and justice.

The guest of honour at the ceremony was the Substitute for General Affairs of the Secretariat of State, H.E. Monsignor Paolo Rudelli, who emphasised the value of concrete examples of dialogue and peaceful coexistence such as that of the village.

The event, moderated by Fausta Speranza, essayist and journalist for L'Osservatore Romano, ended with a Q&A session with the author.

In keeping with tradition, the Literary Prize was awarded in the framework of the 26th Week of the Italian Language in the World, dedicated to the theme 2A Brilliant Language: Conceiving, Designing and Creating with Italian'. The initiative promotes Italian as the language of reference within the Catholic Church, in relations with the Holy See and within the accredited diplomatic corps.

Established six years ago on the initiative of a group of Italian-speaking Heads of Mission, the Prize is aimed at authors of works in Italian on Christian values, the history of the Churches, relations between Churches and States, and interfaith dialogue. The jury is co-chaired by the Ambassadors of Italy and the European Union to the Holy See.

During the event, tribute was also paid to Andrea Angeli, a journalist and long-serving UN official, winner of the sixth Literary Prize (2025), who passed away on 2 September.