PERU, Queca Espinoza/mda. Someday we are going to be asked: Where were you when Pope Francis was elected? And the responses will vary: at St. Peter's Square (happy!), at work, in the car, with my friends, or at home. (Listening as always, and instead of talking about soccer or fashions, they were saying: "An Argentinean, a strange name, that he loves the poor.") Three Schoenstatters from Lima will never forget where they were on that March 13^th afternoon: in the Shrine at Lima.

BRAZIL; Sr. M. Denise. On 17 February, the first Sunday of Lent, about 150 people prayed the Stations of Cross as penance, sacrifice and prayer as they gathered around the Tabor Shrine in Santa Maria, Rio Grande do Sul state.  A group of pilgrims from Argentina, who were visiting Tabor, also joined in the time of prayer.

ARGENTINA, Claudia Echenique. On Sunday, February 24^th, another anniversary of the Zion Shrine in Florencio Varela convoked the Schoenstatt Family of greater Buenos Aires to accompany the priests from Argentina and Paraguay.

ZIMBABWE, Marlene Peters. February 21 was another special day in the history of our Zimbabwe Schoenstatt Family. Once again they were privileged to witness a Covenant of Love consecration sealed between a member of the Schoenstatt Movement and the Mother Thrice Admirable. This took place at Sheila Coleman’s home where the “altar shrine” – the altar for a future Shrine - is, during a beautiful, Holy Spirit–filled Mass.

BRAZIL, Sr. M. Iracema Betoni. On the second Covenant Day of 2013, which is also the Year of Faith, the Tabor of Faith to the Church Shrine in Cornélio Procópio received the Church's blessing with the visit of the World Youth Day icons. They were welcomed at 7h15 to the sounds of the Shrine bell, by the Schoenstatt Apostolic Youths who lovingly and enthusiastically prepared for their arrival. The joy, faith and a renewed apostolic fire marked this unique event for us, particularly the youths.

PARAGUAY, María Luz Fleitas. Covenant Day – February 18^th – was joyfully and enthusiastically celebrated in the Youth Shrine of Asunción.  Just like every 18^th since the beginning of the triennium in preparation for 2014, the Family gathered with smiling faces showing how good it feels to be close to the beloved Mother Thrice Admirable for the monthly renewal of the covenant sealed by Father Joseph Kentenich and his students.

GERMANY, Elfriede and Hans-Joachim Etzold/mda. On January 20^th, the Schoenstatt Family from the Diocese of Munich-Freising and Augsburg went on pilgrimage to Dachau, as they have done for several years to commemorate Father Kentenich’s decision to renounce all human means that could have saved him from going to the concentration camp; going on pilgrimage to Dachau, the place where Father Kentenich and the covenant of Love – the nucleus of his charism and his foundation – underwent their test of resistance in extreme conditions. After the covenant in Dachau touched all the possibilities imaginable of suffering and human cruelty and where its creative power was demonstrated precisely in this place, for Father Kentenich, the sign to depart could no longer wait.  The step of May 31^st, along with all that has become a reality in Schoenstatt and then sending it to the Church and to the men/women of today, was prepared in Dachau.

ARGENTINA, Lilita and Carlos Ricciardi. Last Tuesday evening, January 22, Jorge González Belo, 61, died of a cardiac arrest.  It was brought on after thieves entered his home.  Jorge was a member of the 1^st Family Federation course in Argentina “With You, Parents of a New World.”  In less than two months, the course has lost Marcelo Bulfón and now Jorge González Belo, being the third to go home to the Father along with Carlos Cornacchia.  On January 26^th, at the “Toward 2014” Mass, his name was placed on the altar of the Original Shrine, and his picture was placed along that of Marcelo Bulfón in this holy place.

ARGENTINA, Juan Barbosa. After 20 years since its first blessing, the wayside Shrine of Miramar, Buenos Aires, continues to glow with the original radiance of its early years. In this city, also called “city of the children” due to the great influx of families during the summer, the Schoenstatt Family joyfully offers its help to the local community, working very hard for the Diocese.

GERMANY, Sr. M. Dorthe Freisberg. "Queen of Hearts". Millions of people associate this title with Princess Diana of England who died in 1997. She supported many charitable projects and devoted herself to the disadvantaged. The new Prime Minister of Rheinland-Pfalz in Germany, Malu Dreyer, was also given this title repeatedly in the last few months. Yet what distinguishes a person who is called the "Queen of Hearts"? The media offer no definition; the title is self-explanatory. It obviously describes someone who is greatly loved and who spontaneously touches people's hearts.