after Bozoum, news from Bangassou: Athens, Rome, etc...

Thursday, September 25, 2025

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.