EUROPE/ITALY - Extraordinary Missionary Month: the diocese of Rome sets up an award dedicated to Don Andrea Santoro

Friday, 11 October 2019 extraordinary missionary month   missionary animation   fidei donum  

Rome (Agenzia Fides) - "If we have discovered we are children of the Heavenly Father, how can we be silent about the joy of being loved, the certainty of always being precious in the eyes of God? This is the announcement that so many people await. And it is our responsibility". The Cardinal Vicar of Rome, Angelo De Donatis, recalled this in a letter sent to the Fidei donum priests of the diocese of Rome, on the occasion of the Extraordinary Missionary Month.
"In this month of October, our Bishop, Pope Francis, has invited us to live an extraordinary missionary Month in order to resume the missionary transformation of life and pastoral care with new enthusiasm", writes the Cardinal, who sends his greetings to the Roman missionaries and families "who live the mission at the service of the Kingdom of God". "The Lord asks us again to commit ourselves where we are, as we are, with those around us, reminding us that the protagonist of the mission is the Spirit Holy. The Lord will not leave us alone; by witnessing we discover that the Holy Spirit arrived before us to prepare the way".
The initiatives promoted by the Diocese of Rome for the Extraordinary Missionary Month include the Award named after Don Andrea Santoro, fidei donum priest killed in Trabzon, Turkey, on 5 February 2006 (see Fides, 6/2/2006; 8/2/2006). On October 26th, at the Conciliation Hall of the Lateran Palace the award will be given to: Sr. Anna Bacchion and Sister Marzia Feurra, Missionaries of the Consolata in Djibuti, involved in the health field, in the school, at the service of the disabled and in the promotion of women; Father Sebastiano D’Ambra, PIME missionary in Mindanao (Philippines), who started the Silsilah Islamic-Christian dialogue movement, from which the Emmaus Community, of consecrated laymen, and the Harmony Village originated; the Intercongregational Missionary Community (CIM) present in Haiti since 2010, to respond to the suffering of the population after the earthquake; spouses Luigi and Isabella Bencetti, who from 2001 to 2007 served in Carabayllo, Peru, serving about 40 thousand people who lived in the most absolute precariousness, also lacking essential services. (SL) (Agenzia Fides, 11/10/2019)


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