World Missionary day 2024

 

World Missionary day 2024

October is dedicated to the Missions, to a common aspect in the whole Church, in every part of its, that is the Gospel. And this month is dedicated to everyone who announce the beauty and the joy to be christian in all latitude.

The second to last Sunday of October is the proper day dedicated to the Missions and to the missionaries.

And also I not try to do bad impression!

Tuesday morning i celebrate the Holy Mass in the Cathedral, in Bangassou. The church is full of more than 1,300 children from the elementary school managed by the nouns. A lot of joy and noises, but is nice guide these faces, these smiles in the educative adventure.

Immediately I leave for Zemio, a mission 300 km est of Bangassou. I decided to go with the car, instead of the airplane. I know that it will be very tiring, but this will allow me to know this area better and  share the difficulties of the priest and of the people who live and work in Zemio.

We are still in the rainy season and the road is terrible: for the whole route, round trip, we met 3 motors and 3 trucks… and none cars. And a monkey crossed our street jumping from one branch to another of the forest.

When I told to my priests that I wanted to go with car, they encouraged me telling me that this way I would bless the road and the people will be encouraged.

We leave at 10 am, and we arrive at 4 pm after 150 km in Rafai, the Franciscan’s Mission.

The Wednesday’s journey is more difficult because of  mud, potholes and collapsing bridges. But we manage to travel the 150 km quite well and at 5 pm we are at Zemio, where the scouts welcome us to the church, where we meet the parish Father  Gervais with the Vicar Father Crepìn and the seminarist Medard.

It’s now dark here, but there is great joy because the Bishop is arrived!

They arrived from the villages (also from Dream, which is 130 km far away) for 3 day of catechesi and prayer, and for the Confirmation of 77 boys and girls, to which I will administer the Confirmation in the next Sunday, in a crowed church.

The life in Zemio is very difficult. A liter of gasoline is cost more than 5 euros, a sack of cement is cost 75 euros. The distance from Bangui, the roads devastated and the war have hit the population hard, which despite everything looks to the future with faith and courage.

In the city there are elements enrolled in the Wagner (Russian mercenary company). They are ex rebels (but not to much “ex”), which behave with a lot of arrogance without respect for the people…

Saturday evening we listen the bad noise of gunshot: then we come to know that were the mercenary which “celebrated” the return of their fellow soldiers.

In the past weeks they did some actions by killing some people who considered dangerous for them. This brought a lot of tension, and I see villages along the way that were inhabited by more than a thousand of peuls nomads at the end of July, and now are all abandoned…

Between Thursday and Tuesday I meet the very prepared and attentive guys who will receive the Confirmation and the community. I’m passing by to great the Muslim imam, who explain to me the hard situation where that live.

The celebration of the Confirmation in Sunday is very beautiful and intense. At the end, the parish and the moviments care some gift for the Bishop including a spear and a hand-woven lounger for my rest (I’m afraid that, even if it is made of wool, it will rust before I use it).

Also here there are the elementary and the secondary Missions’ school.

And even here there is a lot of work to be done and funded: painting the interior of the church, floors and doors of classrooms, assistance for refugees... Providence is great, and slowly we will do something!

Monday afternoon we set off 20 km, toward Tamboura, to meet the villages along this road and pray with them.

Tuesday morning, after meeting with the various parish councils, we leave at 9 a.m., hoping to get to Rafai, 150 km away.

We arrive at the bac (ferry) in Dembia, cross the river, and continue on. But shortly thereafter there is a truck sinking in the mud and barring our way. We attempt a detour, but we also get bogged down. 2 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.!

And, of course, it starts to rain! On the bright side, during the rain, mosquitoes and various insects leave us alone for an hour or so....

Dismantle, raise, dig, put the boards in, start again, re-assemble, re-scavenge, put the boards back in, re-start! In the end, it took more than 7 hours to make about 20 meters!

And so at half past midnight we arrive in Rafai: more than 15 hours for 150 km. I try to get some mud off my feet and hands, and collapse to sleep.

At 6 a.m. I celebrate Mass with Br Norman, a Polish Franciscan, and around 7 a.m. I leave for the last 150 km. And finally, at 2:30 p.m., we arrive in Bangassou!

Safe, sound and happy! Missionary life is very good!

Il fiume a Rafai
Le fleuve à Rafai

Foglie di manioca per il pranzo
Feuilles de manioc pour le repas

Scuola elementare, Zemio
Ecole élémentaire, Zemio

Tamboura

Villaggi abbandonati, vicino a Dembia
Un village abandonné par les Peuls, près de Dembia

Return to the country

 

 

 

Return to the country

I am at the Addis Ababa airport, waiting for the plane to Bangui, Central Africa.

I left Cuneo yesterday morning, after celebrating Mass with the senior priests of the diocese, and then I took the train, which brought me to Rome yesterday afternoon. After the 6 hour night flight, I am leaving for Bangui, where I will arrive after 3 hours, around 12.  Tomorrow, if all goes well, departure for Bangassou.

The return to Bangassou, after almost a month spent in Italy: first the training of the bishops, then various meetings, between Cuneo, Arenzano, and Milan.

The opportunity to meet many people, and to talk about Central Africa and Bangassou, about the hopes and dreams that Africa contains and preserves, like a great hatchery.

I always encounter a lot of attention and sensitivity.

In a world like the current one, so tense and with little hope, the mission is one of the beautiful places, where the Love of God is incarnated and makes the desert flourish.

And if the desert flourishes, the rest of the world will flourish too!

Cuneo, Cuore Immacolato

Roma, Colosseo

Addis Abeba

 

Rome

 

 

 

Rome

I am writing from Rome, where I arrived on Sunday, September 15th.

I am here, only a few hundred meters from St. Peter's Square, together with 114 other new bishops from 49 countries! It's a magnificent experience!
We have a very busy schedule, with interventions by cardinals and bishops, heads of the Vatican departments.

Training is very rich, and we need it. But it is also training to meet so many bishops from so many countries and from such different realities: India, South and Central America, Iraq, Syria, Africa, Madagascar, Indonesia, New Zealand...

On Tuesday and Wednesday we moved to Urbaniana, the University where seminarians and priests from the Mission towns study.

The new bishops from other countries also came here, such as Europe, North America, Brazil, China, Australia: in total there were 264 new bishops!

It is nice to find so many of us, all newly ordained, all very simple and full of the desire to put ourselves at the service of the Church and the people of God entrusted to us.

Here at the Urbaniana I also met Jospin and Sharaff, two seminarians from Bangassou, who arrived in Rome a couple of months ago. In a few weeks they will begin their theology studies here, together with 162 other seminarians from all over the world, a unique experience!

Today, Saturday, the morning is dedicated to the Pope and Saint Peter.

Dressed in full uniform, at 8 we enter the Vatican, and at 9 we were in the Clementina room, a beautiful room from the 1500s. Here is when the Pope arrived, who very simply said that he does not want to make a speech, but to dialogue with us. A series of questions and answers begins, between many of us and the Pope.

He begins immediately by inviting us to maintain a sense of humor, to creativity, which is born from the freedom of the heart, to strength, which is a gift from God. Among the questions, also how to cope with the weight of the bishop's ministry, and he reminds us that strength is a gift, and if we pray we will get it.

He exhorts us to be close to God, to our brother bishops, to our priests, to the people entrusted to us.

I also greet him, and talk to him about Central Africa, which is very close to his heart. In fact, it recalls the visit to Bangui and the opening of the door of the Jubilee of Mercy in 2015.

After the meeting with Pope Francis, which lasted almost 2 hours, we went down to St. Peter's Basilica, and here we celebrated Mass, at 12, presided over by Card Tagle.

In a few days we will leave again, enriched by a unique experience, which speaks to us of God, of Jesus, of the beauty and freshness of the Church, which is Catholic, that is, universal. And it really is!

Sulla tomba di san Pietro
Sur le tombeau de St Pierre

Messa in San Pietro
La Messe à saint Pierre

 

 

A connecting thread…

 

A connecting thread…

Little by little the Internet connection is returning... and I'm trying to publish text and photos.

I haven't written since August 15th.

We are in the middle of the rainy season. I like the rain a lot and it makes me happy, but the streets unfortunately do not agree with this amount of rain!

Thursday, August 22nd we left around 10.30am for Gambo, a mission 75km away on the national road No. 1 which, in theory, connects Bangassou to the capital. In theory, because the state of the road was disastrous: the last truck that was supposed to bring us the cement and other material, which left Bangui in mid-June, arrived in Bangassou at the end of July, after a month and a half of travel!

60 km from Bangassou there are about 200 meters of road so bad and fearsome that it deserves the name "General", and it is here that we got stuck in the mud for some time.

We managed to get out of it, and arrived in Gambo at 2.30 pm, after 4 hours on the road.

Here there is a parish, where a priest and a deacon live and work, and on Sunday we celebrated Confirmations.

In the afternoon we began to meet the priests and those to be confirmed for the catechesis, which will continue on Friday and Saturday.

We met the pastoral council, and then the leaders of the Mission school: around 300 children will receive a good education. The structures are very precarious: they use 2 parish halls and 2 straw sheds. The dream is to build a proper school, which we will start in the next few months. Also, with hopes to find financing!

On Sunday morning everything was ready and the celebration of mass was solemn and well attended: even children who could not yet walk or dance (in time!), were able to at least clap their hands!

We left around 12.30, hoping that the "General" was not as terrible on the way out. In fact, there was no rain during the night, and we managed to pass without too many problems. We arrived in Bangassou around 4pm .

On Tuesday I got back on the road, to accompany a priest to Ouango, a parish 75 km away. The road was fairly good, and in two hours we arrived at our destination.

Wednesday morning I continued to Bema, the mission on the river where I had been in April. The river was swollen with water, and the level had risen by at least 2 meters. The road in the village was a 20cm layer of mud, and people had to go barefoot to be able to walk!

 

 

 

 

 

La chapelle de Gambo

 

 

 

 

La scuola provvisoria, molto provvisoria
Les salles de classe, très très provisoires