Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Salta (Agenzia Fides) - “Today, on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of our Archdiocese, we give you thanks for the gift the life of the ecclesial family, for the vitality of our parishes, the presence of religious life, the growth and renewal of our institutions and movements, being able to serve all beyond our own limitations and sins.” This is what Archbishop Mario Antonio Cargnello of Salta said during the renewal of the Pact of Fidelity the Patrons of the ecclesial province (“El Señor y la Virgen del Milagro”), in the course of the traditional procession that took place on September 15 (see Fides 11/09/2009).
“Thank you, Lord of the Miracle, because this year you have renewed our hope,” the Archbishop added, with the hope that every community would be “the seed of a new humanity, more just and more fraternal.”
On a missionary level, the Church of Salta renewed its commitment to “life and the family, education and youth, justice and peace.” In particular, the Archbishop said: “we hope, as a particular Church, to reaffirm are interests to carry out a pastoral ministry of the family that is more intense, to proclaim the Gospel of the family, to promote the culture of life and work so that family rights may be recognized and respected.”
Thinking of the youth, Archbishop Cargnello referred to the “terrible plague of drugs, which is being extended like a cancer in our neighborhoods, the increase of fear and insecurity,” and exhorted the youth to “not give in to the market of destruction and to insist, if necessary, with those who try to manipulate their lives and their future: you can no longer continue killing!” The response to these “threats” is in the “concrete commitment to education”: “working to improve the educational system, cultivating the quality and trying to include everyone, we should recuperate the meaning of the vocation and the activity of a teacher and restore to them the social appreciation they deserve.”
In conclusion, the Archbishop of Salta has asked for forgiveness for “the weakness and infidelity of my brother and son priests,” also thanking sacred ministers “for their example and their service” and asking all to pray for seminarians, so that “they can form themselves in a climate of honesty and sincerity, which favors a profound rectitude in their formative path and their entire life.”
The procession with the images of the Lord and the Virgin of the Miracle was attended by over half a million people. The Triduum of the feast began on Sunday, with a Mass in the Cathedral of Salta. Many faithful came, some even on foot from locations nearly 500 kilometers away, and others came from the surrounding Provinces of Cafayate, Talapampa, la Viña, Coronel Moldes, Carril, la Merced, Cerrillos, Molinos, Colomé, Tacuil, Humanao, Amaicha, Hualfín, and La Angostura. On Saturday, September 19, there will be a Mass in Thanksgiving for the close of the festivities. (GT) (Agenzia Fides 18/9/2009)
