Arriving in Thiès already in the evening of the previous day, the Rector Major opened the day by consecrating it to the Lord in the morning Mass he presided over and concelebrated by, among others, Fr Joseph Maïssa Gueye, delegate of the bishop of the Diocese of Thiès, Bishop André Gueye, and other priests of the diocese.

The celebration was lively and colourful, full of symbolic moments and gestures, and was attended by a large number of parishioners and students from the Salesian school and Vocational Training Centre, with the entire assembly not failing to pay due tribute to the distinguished guest.

Speaking at the end of the Eucharistic celebration, Fr Joseph Maïssa thanked the Cardinal for having honoured the Salesian presence in Thiès and the entire diocese of Thiès, and hailed this visit as part of the synodal dynamic that Pope Francis wants for the whole Church. For his part, the Superior of the Our Lady of Peace Province of North West Africa (AON), Fr Jesus Bénoît Badji, renewed his greetings and thanks to the Rector Major for the paternal solicitude with which he chose to visit Senegal and Gambia: two countries of the young Province that had not yet experienced the joy of welcoming a Rector Major.

Following this, the programme also included a moment of meeting, congratulations and dialogue with the young people and the students, educators and teachers gathered there, which always maintained a highly festive tone, marked by the warmth of the young people, the spontaneous closeness of the 10th Successor of Don Bosco and the brilliance of the artistic and cultural events that accompanied the event.

After lunch with the Salesian Community and Family of Thiès, the Rector Major devoted the first afternoon to visiting the Salesian work's existing and completed structures, with a tour that touched on the workshops of the Vocational Training Centre and also the site of the new institute in Diassap.

Afterwards, the Rector Major was accompanied to Dakar International Airport, from where he took the flight to Banjul, Gambia, to begin the second leg of his animation visit.

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