Royal Academy finalises preparations for its 4th International Act, which will go to the Holy See

Alfredo Rocafort, full academician and president of the Governing Board of the Royal European Academy of Doctors-Barcelona 1914 (RAED); Xabier Añoveros, academician and vicepresident, and José Ramón Calvo, academician and president of its Institute of Interdisciplinary Research, travelled to Rome last weekend accompanied by the honorary academician Lluís Martínez Sistach, cardinal and archbishop emeritus of Barcelona, ​​to prepare the events of the 4th International Act of the RAED, which will be held next July.

With the special invitation of Cardinal Martínez Sistach, the Academy delegation attended the Pontifical Mass of Pentecost, officiated by Pope Francis and also concelebrated by the cardinal. Later, they held a preparatory meeting for the meeting that RAED will hold in the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, an institution created by Pope Pius XI in 1603, and of which, among others, more than 30 Nobel laureates are part. The academicians were received by the great chancellor of the Academy, Monsignor Marcelo Sánchez Sorondo.

This institution is located within the walls of the Vatican, next to the Basilica of Saint Peter, in a palace that reproduces in part what must have been the temple of Nero and in which fragments of the original floor used in construction are found of the Basilica of Saint Peter. The academicians who wish to participate in this visit will be able to admire some of the rooms and a brief meeting will be held in their conference room with their managers. The first bases for the signing of an agreement for the celebration of an act of the highest level by the two academies in the middle of the year 2019 were also set. Possible topics, potential participants and the formats that can be developed during the three days that the meeting is expected to last.

On the other hand, Calvo also moved to Majorca to close the proceedings of the event to be held in Valldemosa, thanks to the good offices of the academician Onofre Martorell, who facilitated the necessary contacts to bring this activity to a successful conclusion. The delegation will make a private visit to the Carthusian of Valldemosa, where a lecture will be offered on the time and circumstances that surrounded the stay of Frédéric Chopin and George Sand on the island.

The session will end with a concert of works by Chopin performed by one of the most important Spanish pianists of the moment, Iván Martín, specialist and researcher of this report and author of a reference recording with unpublished works by the Polish composer. Before starting the visit, the Valldemosa City Council will offer a reception to the participants and will have the Nobel prizes that accompany them sign in the honour book of the institution.