Athens, Rome, etc...

 

 



Athens, Rome, etc...

September 22, 2025

There has been a bit of silence, because I have been traveling.

On Monday, September 8th, I left Bangassou, and the following day I left Bangui, on my way to  Addis Ababa. On Wednesday morning, I arrived in Athens, where I was able to meet with Father Frantiseck. He currently works at the Nunciature in Athens.  We met at the Nunciature in Bangui, where he worked for a few years.

We spent the day together, and I had the opportunity to go to the Agora, the "square" where Saint Paul began to proclaim the Risen Christ to the Greeks. From here, we had a magnificent view of the Acropolis and the city of Athens.

On Thursday morning, I left for Milan, where my sister and her husband were there to welcome me. After meeting with some friends in the area, I arrived in Cuneo that evening, which will be my base camp for a few weeks, until my return to Central Africa on October 14th.

On Sunday, I left for Bocca di Magra, where I will celebrate Mass for the feast of this community.

On Wednesday, I left for Rome, where I stayed for a few days for meetings and celebrations.

Saturday morning I was in Saint Paul Outside the Walls, where the pilgrimage of the "Monastero Wi-Fi" group began. "This is a group of people who desire to lead a life of prayer, to find space for God in their daily lives. People who lead normal lives, often quite tiring and full. People who, when they work or cook, when they're with family or friends, always try to bring their hearts back to God, in the certainty that it is in daily life that God encounters us, and it is here that His will must be sought and done."

https://www.monasterowi-fi.it/come-si-fa-a-far-parte-del-monastero-wi-fi/

While the more than 2,000 participants arrived slowly from all over Italy, I, along with other priests, devoted myself to hearing confessions. We heard confessions from before 8:00 a.m. until after 1:00 p.m.!

Meanwhile, the group, after listening to some catechesis, set off on foot towards St. Peter's.

I took the subway, because it was already late.  I was here, with immense emotion, where I celebrated the Eucharist at the Altar of the Confession (the one with Bernini's four columns, built over the tomb of St. Peter). Here's the video: https://youtu.be/YMSb6sTL9iY?si=tGfTtMnTSt5J4bYd

As soon as Mass was over, I left for the station, and between train and car, I arrived in Cuneo after midnight.

On Sunday, I celebrated Mass, a baptism, and then I rushed to the Peace Caravan: a demonstration commemorating the massacre in the village of Boves in September 1943.

We were several thousand people. While we set off on foot from Cuneo, two other groups set off from Borgo San Dalmazzo and Chiusa Pesio: a long march of many people (adults, young people, families, children) moving forward, remembering the massacres of so many years ago, and the current ones in Gaza and the many, too many places where humanity suffers!

These days in Italy are days of meetings, celebrations, and prayer, and of presenting the Diocese of Bangassou.

I have met so many wonderful people, open to the world and to the beautiful things happening in the world.

Pellegrinaggio del Monastero >Wi-FI
Pélérinage du Monatère Wi-Fi
Peregrinación de el Monasterio Wi-Fi

Atene
Athène
Atenas

Roma - San Pietro
Rome - St Pierre
Roma - San Pedro

Carovana della Pace
La caravane de la Paix
La Caravana de la Paz

Boves

Departures

  

 

Departures

September 7, 2025

We continued to prepare various reports for the diocese, but we also found time to meet with priests and lay people who, in one way or another, needed to hear from the bishop on certain issues.

On Thursday, Bishop Aguirre and I are going to Lanome to meet with the community and also to see the work being done.

The new school is ready for classes to begin in the coming weeks. We have also gotten more desks for the students, thanks to some friends in Rome, and the parents are organizing to clean up the school and the courtyard.

Work on the church is currently on hold, but we will resume as soon as the rains subsides, which will be in a couple of months.

On Friday morning, the diocesan seminarians who had come on vacation in June are leaving for Bangui. The journey (750 km) is a great unknown due to the disastrous condition of the roads. Some parents and relatives have come to say goodbye. This is the first time in many years that the seminarians currently in Bangui have come to Bangassou during their vacation!

The trip, so far, has been a success: on Sunday evening the car arrived in Bangui, after "only" three days of travel!

Today, Sunday, I celebrated Mass in the Cathedral. We celebrated in advance the feast of the patron saint, Saint Peter Claver (a Spanish saint who dedicated his life to the African slaves who landed in Colombia). Today, the new parish priest, Father Clotaire, takes office, and I blessed his new ministry.

Tomorrow, Monday, September 8th, I'll be leaving for Bangui, and on Tuesday I'll continue to Italy, where I'll be staying for a few weeks.

Till then!

 

 

 

 

Davanti alla nuova scuola di Lanome
Devant la nouvelle école de Lanome

Frente a la nueva escuela en Lanome

 

I nuovi banchi
les nouveaux tables - bancs

60 / 5.000

Los nuevos pupitres en Lanome

 

La partenza dei seinaristi per Bangui
Le depar des séminaristes pour Bangui
La partida de los seminaristas hacia Bangui

 

 

 

 

Cattedrale di Bangassou
Cathédral de Bangassou
Catedral de Bangassou

Tailors and carpenters

 

 

Tailors and carpenters

I am resuming the blog, after a bit of silence.

On Friday 22 August, we concluded the cutting and sewing course that we, as Caritas, have been organising for the past six months. Supported by a parish in Granada (Spain), the course welcomed around sixty people (mostly women, but also a dozen men). During these months, they learned the basics of cutting and sewing, both by hand and with sewing machines.

Meanwhile, our carpentry workshop is building dozens of school desks, financed partly by the Fundacion Bangassou, partly by friends in Rome. School starts in a few weeks, and some schools (such as Gambo and Lanome) have already received some.

We have a lot of office work these weeks, to send reports of the various projects to Rome (especially to the Pontifical Missionary Works), Spain and Italy.

These last two Sundays I have been celebrating Mass in the chapels of the villages around here: Sunday, 24 August in Pande, and today, 31 August, in Mbalazime.

Sr Yolande et M.Gazele

 

 

La falegnameria della diocesi
La menuiserie du diocèse
El taller de carpintería de la diócesis

Mbalazime