With a few months to go until the end of his mandate, established by the Holy Father Francis for 16 August 2024, the Rector Major has decided to spend a few weeks visiting to animate the Salesian presences in the African Continent in what will be his final long journey of animation of Salesian works as the 10th Successor of Don Bosco.
Card. Fernández Artime, Titular Archbishop of Ursona, will depart from Rome on Saturday 4 May and arrive in the afternoon of Sunday 5 May in Palabek, accompanied by the Regional Councillor for Africa Madagascar, Fr Alphonse Owoudou, and by the Superior of the St Charles Lwanga Vice-Province of Africa Great Lakes (AGL), to whom Palabek's presence refers.
After the festive reception ceremony in the Vocational Training Centre, the Rector Major will participate in a meeting with young people, on the theme of the 29th General Chapter "PASSIONATE ABOUT JESUS CHRIST, DEDICATED TO YOUNG PEOPLE". The first day will then conclude with community prayer and an evening of fraternity.
On Monday, 6 May the Salesian Cardinal will preside over the opening of the new Church of the Resurrection chapel and the subsequent festive Mass. In the afternoon the the visit to the camp continues together with the missionaries who work there and he will attend a cultural show.
On the morning of Tuesday 7th, after Morning Prayer and Mass in the community, the 10th Successor of Don Bosco will get to know the agricultural groups developed within the camp, and then he will greet the refugees in Palabek to continue his journey to Gulu, also in Uganda.
In the following days the Rector Major will continue his journey to other Salesian presences in Africa, and will also travel to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where, on Sunday 12 May, at the Imara work in Lubumbashi, the diaconate ordination of 12 Salesians belonging to different circumscriptions in Africa is scheduled (nine from Central Africa; one each for Africa Great Lakes, Africa Congo Congo and Madagscar).
It will be the first time that Card. Á.F. Artime, ordained bishop on 20 April, will confer the sacrament of orders, through his consecratory prayer and the imposition of hands.
Before leaving for this trip of his, in a conversation with ANS, the Titular Archbishop of Ursona explained the meaning of his last long journey of animation: "I decided to spend these days precisely in Africa and in some of the most significant places of the Salesian mission on the continent, for three specific reasons: first, to reaffirm the importance of this African Salesian presence for the whole Congregation. I had also said this on the occasion of the choice of the Moderator for the next General Chapter, in the person of Fr Owoudou, that the growth of the Congregation in the Africa-Madagascar Region expresses the relevance of the contribution that Salesians, Salesian Family and young people from Africa can make to the entire Salesian movement."
"Secondly", Card. Fernández Artime continued, "I wish to closely accompany the further development and growth of this flourishing Salesian presence, for the good of young Africans and those of the whole world."
"Finally" he concluded, "with this trip I also intend to assure the closeness of the Congregation to the African people and, despite so many wounds and difficult situations, to make them see that the Salesians will always be there for the poorest and neediest young people."
