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Today we conclude our week-long review of Vatican City's Europa stamps by looking at the latest issues from 2023 and 2024. 
 Europa 2023: Peace—The Highest Value of Humanity Vatican City, Scott 1825-1826 The theme for the Europa stamps of 2023 is “Peace: The Highest Value of Humanity”. It is clearly an appropriate and emotional topic as the world continues to deal with conflicts around the globe, inlcuding the ongoing conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East. In April of 2022, the Board of Directors for PostEurop made a change to the scheduled themes for 2023, 2024 and 2025. The 2023 “Peace” theme was inserted into the schedule, and the themes for 2023 and 2024 were pushed back one year each. In its announcement, the Board stated: The 2023 EUROPA Stamp theme will be ‘PEACE – the highest value of humanity’ as proposed by Ukrposhta in order ‘to show solidarity with Ukraine and to promote the universal value for all humanity – peace’.The Vatican City Philatelic and Numismatic Office released two stamps as part of this issue. The first, denominated at 0.10-euro, shows Pope Francis holding a flag received from the Ukrainian town of Bucha, the site of civilian massacre during the early stages of the Ukraine-Russia conflict. The stamp bears the quote “On the side of the Ukrainians, a noble and martyred people.” It should be noted that this stamp does not bear the Europa logo. The 1.25-euro stamp is of the common design used by the member nations of PostEurop. The stamp, designed by the postal administration of Luxembourg, depicts the “Peace Knot” motif and the theme for the issue, “Peace—the highest value of humanity”. 
 Europa 2024: Underwater Flora And Fauna Scott 1858-1859 The Europa theme for 2024, "Underwater Fauna & Flora", creates another challenge for the Vatican Post Office, given the fact that the smallest country in the world has no natural bodies of water. However, the fountains in the Vatican Gardens provide a habitat for two aquatic species, the American turtle (Trachemys scripta) and the Great Green Frog (Pelophylax ridibundas). The stamps also depict the common water lily, as well as a species of aquatic lichen, Porpidia ochrolemma, which grows on the submerged rocks of the fountains. The theme for the Europa stamp releases in 2025 will be "National Archaeological Discoveries". In 2026, the Europa stamps will feature a common design to celebrate the 70th anniversary of Europa stamps. And for 2027, the stamps will have a theme of "Street Art". REFERENCES: |
