Evelia Macal and Harold Fallon meet with Pope Francis in Rome

Within the framework of the UNISERVITATE 2024 Solidarity Service and Learning Award, won by KU Leuven in collaboration with José Simeón Cañas Central American University (UCA) for “Surviving Memory in Postwar El Salvador” architecture class, Evelia Macal and Harold Fallon had an audience with Pope Francis in Rome on Saturday, November 9, 2024.

Macal presented the pope with an embroidery of the Sumpul River Massacre made by survivor Rosa Rivera, who is part of Mujeres Vueltenses Bordando Historia [Las Vueltas Women’s Embroidery Collective] (also a Surviving Memory initiative). Harold Fallon presented the pope with a dedicated copy of the community book Memorias del Sumpul [Memories of the Sumpul], published in 2019 by Asociación Sumpul [Sumpul Association] in collaboration with Dorotea Mölders. The book includes the history of the Sumpul River Massacre, testimonies of survivors, and information about the preliminary design of the memorial, completed in 2024 in collaboration with AgwA architects, KU Leuven, Asociación Sumpul, and Western University. The memorial was funded, in part, by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC), LiUNA OPDC, LiUNA Local 183, the Loretto Sisters of Toronto, and the Arthur Fallon Memorial Fund.

The dedication in the book reads: "To His Holiness, Pope Francis, on behalf of Asociación Sumpul, the organized communities of the region, and the Surviving Memory in Postwar El Salvador project, with the hope that solidarity actions and prayers will bring justice and lasting dignity, especially in this context of denialism and growing authoritarianism that overwhelms so many people in the world. Rome, November 8, 2024."

Pope Francis was moved by the symbolic value of these gifts and listened with interest to the explanations about the struggles of the Chalatenango communities, in particular, the request for prayer for the end of the state of exception in El Salvador.

Photos: copyright Vatican Media.