Morocco - Second mission visit in the context of the Salesian Circumscription of North Africa concerning the possibilities offered by the Mattei Plan
Morocco - November 2024 - The second mission visit took place in the context of the new Special Circumscription of North Africa (CNA), from 25 to 27 November, concerning the possibilities offered by the Italian government's ‘Mattei Plan’. The first took place in Tunisia in October, and this second took place in Morocco, attended by Fr Luca Barone from Salesian Headquarters in Rome, accompanied by Fr Pietro Bianchi. Welcomed at Rabat airport by the Vicar of the Circumscription, Fr Piotr Wolny, they were able, during their stay, to get to know the work that the six Salesians in the community, of six different nationalities, carry out passionately on Moroccan soil. The Don Bosco of Kenitra school is comprises a nursery school with 210 children, a primary school with 641 children and 241 in the college, and the Vocational Training Centre with 90 young people with civil, industrial and automation electrical vocational training. The pastoral work of the Parish and Youth Centre offers a complete panorama of Salesian educational activity. The meeting with the Italian Ambassador Dr Armando Barucco and his collaborators allowed a fruitful exchange of knowledge and proposed steps for collaboration. Particularly significant were two meetings held with the Salesian Cardinal of Rabat, Cristóbal López Romero, and with the 12 directors of Catholic schools in Morocco united in the ECAM Association, of which the rector of the Salesian house, Fr Alexandre Damians, is the archiepiscopal delegate. The esteem and affection with which the Salesians are surrounded is a splendid testimony to Salesian work in the Islamic context.