Argentina - Salesian Family Pilgrimage to Basilica of Mary Help of Christians in Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires, Argentina - May 2023 - The Pilgrimage of the Salesian Family to the Basilica of Mary Help of Christians in the Almagro neighborhood of Buenos Aires was held on Sunday, May 21. The activity began at 11 a.m. with the concentration of pilgrims at the Monument to Don Bosco, at the corner of Castro Barros and Don Bosco, in the heart of this Buenos Aires neighborhood. From there they made a pilgrimage to the Basilica, where Mass was held. Among the pilgrims were the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians and members of the other groups of the Salesian Family present in the territory of the Salesian Province of Argentina South (ARS). In the Basilica, the celebration was presided by ARS Provincial, Fr. Darío Perera, and concelebrated by several Salesians: Fr. Vicente Ricchetti, Fr. Horacio López, Fr. Abel Iglesias Cortina, Fr. Enrique Romani, and Fr. Fabián Alonso. In his homily, Fr. Perera pointed out that in this Mass, as part of the novena to Mary Help of Christians, "her children are here, who, as our father Don Bosco taught us, come to ask and to give thanks. We come with confidence, because we know that Mary Help of Christians takes care of us." And he invited to approach the Virgin "as the exemplary disciple." And he highlighted two traits of Mary: "she started out" and "without delay" for the house of her cousin Elizabeth as an invitation to the Salesian Family "who want to learn to be disciples in the school of Mary." In the end, he said, "When Don Bosco chose the title Mary Help of Christians, he gave the boys a perspective of Mary according to what they were living. Mary is the one who takes care of each one. That is why Mary is of the boys, the young men and women, often the disoriented, the rejected, the excluded, the last, those with addiction problems. Mary is one of them. Mary belongs to us...."