The Venerable Ajahn Amaro Bhikku (1973 F), has had an extremely busy year. Last May, he was invited to help lead the first Buddhist event at 10 Downing Street, giving an address to the assembled audience. This happened to coincide with the day the General Election was called, so the event was somewhat overshadowed in the news!

He then helped to offer two sets of the Buddhist scriptures, prepared in Thailand, to the Catholic Church, via Cardinal Krangsak, at the Assumption Cathedral in Bangkok. This was followed by an invitation to go to the Vatican to present the two sets of the Buddhist scriptures to the Vatican Library. Prior to that ceremony, Ajhan Amaro was also present for the big public audience that the Pope holds every Wednesday morning, and was honoured to shake hands briefly with the Pope, whilst presenting him with one of the books from the collections of Buddhist scriptures. 

The Venerable Ajahn Amaro plans a much quieter year ahead, as he enters a year-long retreat.