The event, with listening to the Word as its center, highlights how faith in Jesus is transmitted from person to person, from generation to generation, narrating the marvels accomplished by God. All this having Mary near, she who welcomed Jesus in her virginal womb and for this she is mother, teacher and guide of faith, especially in the accompaniment of the young generations, on their journey to joy - as the October Preparatory Document for the Synod underlines, with which the Church invites to be generative adults, rooted "in prayer and in the request of the gift of the Spirit who guides and enlightens all and everyone."
The 8th International Congress of Mary Help of Christians, an event of the Salesian Family, is promoted by the Association of Mary Help of Christians (ADMA) in agreement with the Secretariat of the Salesian Family and with the Salesian Family of Argentina.
The choice of this land and location is to commemorate the first missionary frontier of Don Bosco and together the special value that, for Pope Francis, represents the devotion to Mary Help of Christians and the Basilica of Mary Help of Christians in the neighborhood of Almagro, in Buenos Aires, where Jorge Mario Bergoglio was baptized and where he expressed his love for Mary Help of Christians, until he was elevated to the chair of Peter.
The Congresses of Mary Help of Christians are events of global importance for the Salesian Family, which through the promotion of devotion to Mary Help of Christians wants to increase its spiritual and apostolic identity. Providentially, ADMA celebrates the 150th anniversary of its foundation in 2019.
From 1988 to today, seven International Congresses have been celebrated:
- 1988 - Turin-Valdocco (Italy), on the centenary of the death of Don Bosco;
- 1995 - Cochabamba (Bolivia);
- 1999 - Seville (Spain);
- 2003 - Turin-Valdocco (Italy), on the occasion of the centenary of the coronation of Mary Help of Christians;
- 2007 - Mexico City (Mexico);
- 2011 - Czestochowa (Poland);
- 2015 - Turin-Valdocco / Colle Don Bosco (Italy), on the occasion of the bicentenary of the birth of Don Bosco.
