Don Bosco's 10th Successor, Fr Ángel Fernández Artime, presided over the Mass which concluded his visit to Valladolid. Beside him, in addition to Fr Fernando García, Provincial of the "Spain-St James the Greater" Province, were the Rectors and Parish Priests who had passed through the Salesian house. The entrance procession was lead by the flag of Mary Help of Christians and several women from the "El Candil" association, dressed in the regional costumes of Castile, who brought bouquets of flowers to welcome the celebrants.
The Gospel proclaimed during the mass, in which Jesus invites the disciples to be light and salt, gave the Rector Major the opportunity to comment that “God continues to call many to continue to be witnesses of the Gospel of Life with a Salesian flavor.” And referring to the 50 years of Salesian presence in Valladolid, he underlined that the Salesian work will continue to serve the city’s young people.
Also, he explained that the Salesian house is called to continue the dream of John Bosco, that of being at the side of the young, who were “more fragile and more vulnerable”. This is what the Salesians who have passed through the Salesian house in Valladolid have done, together with many lay people in all these years. “Thus, a beautiful, simple page of salvation history has been written,” he said, and for this reason, he invited all present “to thank the Lord for allowing us to help Him”. He thanked the Salesians and laity “who built the Gospel with a Salesian flavor in Valladolid.” Towards this end, he asked for a special prayer for “all those who are no longer with us.”
Finally, the Rector Major foresaw many more years of Salesian work for the young and said pensively: “the Lord has sown us here so that the Salesian life may continue.”
The Rector Major’s brief visit to the "Spain-St James the Greater" Province ended with the aforesaid religious celebration. On Friday 15 October he visited the Salesian presence in León, where he met Salesians, educators and members of the Salesian Family. On Saturday 16, in Valladolid, he inaugurated the Don Bosco Park and blessed a commemorative monument next to the Salesian house, which this year celebrates the 50th anniversary of its foundation.
On the same day, he also held a meeting with the Provincial Council and the rectors of the SSM Salesian houses, as well as making a courtesy visit to the Archbishop of Valladolid, Card. Ricardo Blázquez. A meeting-dialogue with educators and the Salesian Family, and the thanksgiving Eucharist for the 50th anniversary of presence, were the other events presided over in Valladolid by Fr Á.F. Artime, X Successor of Don Bosco, who spent three years of his Salesian life at this House.
