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New nuncio: I’m one of you BY CLAIRE MATHIESON
T Catholics look at a wax replica of St John Bosco contained in a special touring reliquary in Tegucigalpa, Honduras. Relics of the 19th-century Italian priest, including bones and tissue from his right hand and forearm, are currently touring the world and will come to Southern Africa in July. Don Bosco (inset), founder of the Salesians and advocate for poor and neglected children, was born in 1815 and canonised in 1934. (Photo: Edgard Garrido, Reuters/CNS)
Saint’s relics set for Southern Africa BY CLAIRE MATHIESON
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HE relics of St John Bosco, founder of the Salesian congregation, will come to South Africa, Swaziland and Lesotho for two weeks in July. The relics are making a pilgrimage around the world to prepare for the celebration of the 200th anniversary of the saint’s birth, and 150 years since the founding of the Salesians of Don Bosco. According to Salesian provincial Fr Francois Dufour, the relics will be mainly visiting the places where the Salesians provide their ministry, especially with the young and the poor, in Gauteng, Swaziland, Lesotho and Cape Town. The relics will be in the region from July 1-15. Founded in Turin by the Italian diocesan priest Fr John Bosco, the Salesian congregation today is present in more than 130 countries and is made up of more than 16 000 priests and brothers, 14 000 sisters, 3 000 seminarians, 500 novices and 120 bishops, of whom five are cardinals. Don Bosco (1815-88), as the founder is popularly called, was canonised by Pope Pius XI in 1934. Fr Dufour said that Don Bosco was to the 19th century, what Mother Teresa was to the 20th century, for the poor and abandoned. The Salesians in Southern Africa continue the work of its founder: “the promotion of the glory of God and the salvation of souls, especially of those most in need of education, while providing the members with mutual help towards their own sanctification”. The tour of the relics started in 2009 and
will visit all the countries where the order is present. It has to date included more than 80 countries. “On July 1 at 1pm, the casket will begin the Southern African leg of the pilgrimage, in Johannesburg. It will go on to Swaziland, Lesotho and the Western Cape,” Fr Dufour said. “Even though priority is given to Salesian presences, the event is not just a Salesian event, but a celebration of the gift that Don Bosco is to the universal Church,” said Fr Dufour. So far the worldwide tour has seen many highlights and stories. In Ecuador, the entire bishops’ conference gathered and prayed over the relics. In Mexico, the relics were sequestrated at customs for unknown reasons. It was then discovered that a group of customs officials were taking the time to pay their respects. Thailand saw a group of Muslim officials visit the relics, and a top general in Myanmar (Burma) allowed the relics to travel through the country on account of the work the Salesians do for the poor. After hearing the relics had visited Cuba, President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, which was to be the only South American country to not receive the relics, retracted his refusal and welcomed Don Bosco to his country. While the details regarding the relic tour in South Africa are still to be finalised, Fr Dufour said that most of the events will be open to the public and all will be welcome to come see, touch, venerate and pray beside the relic. n For more about the works of the Salesians in Southern Africa, visit www.salesians.org.za and www.salesianmissions.co.za
AKING up his new office in Pretoria, the new papal nuncio to Southern Africa conveyed Pope Benedict’s greetings to South Africa, Botswana and Swaziland, and asked his welcoming party to “please, accept me as ‘one of you’”. Italian Archbishop Mario Cassari was appointed the pope’s representative and Vatican ambassador to the Southern African conference region, Lesotho and Namibia in March. His posting before that was in Croatia. He previously spent nearly 15 years in the Southern African region, serving as secretary to Archbishop Joseph Mees, the apostolic delegate in Pretoria from 1985-89. Speaking at the Bertoni Centre in North Pretoria, Archbishop Cassari said: “I want to express my deep gratitude to the Holy Father who has entrusted me with this delicate task of service. During my audience with Pope Benedict, which he has recently granted me, he asked me to convey to each and all his greetings and the assurance of his prayers and blessing.” The welcoming party included Cardinal Wilfrid Napier of Durban, whom the nuncio had known as bishop of Kokstad; Archbishop Buti Tlhagale of Johannesburg; Archbishop William Slattery of Pretoria; and numerous dignitaries and religious. Sr Hermenegild Makoro CPS, secretarygeneral of the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference, told The Southern Cross that she is looking forward to working with the nuncio because “the secretariat is the channel of communication for the conference with the Vatican through the nunciature, other conferences and other bodies. I remember [former nuncio] Archbishop James Green saying to Fr Vincent Brennan [her predecessor] that he was not only the secretary of the bishops’ conference, but also of the nunciature. This showed the working relationship between him and the secretary-general of the conference.” Archbishop Cassari said he considered himself “lucky and happy because I was granted the great gift to meet you, dear brother and sisters, and in this way to offer you joyfully some years of my priestly life”. He said it is important and necessary for him to do his work for the kingdom of God. “From my side I assure you of my loyal, fraternal and constructive commitment. And whenever I were to go wrong, do not be afraid to correct me”. The nuncio said the work of the Catholic Church during the years of apartheid was not only noble, but indeed heroic. “I was impressed by the image and the actions of Archbishop Hurley and many others like him…The number of bishops, priests, religious men and women as well as
Sr Hermenegild Makoro CPS addresses the congregation at a welcoming Mass for the new nuncio, Archbishop Mario Cassari (second from left). With him are Cardinal Wilfrid Napier (left) and Archbishop Buti Tlhagale. (Photo: Fr Chris Townsend) lay faithful who suffered persecution, maltreatment and even incarceration in the struggle against racial discrimination attests to the total commitment of the Catholic Church to end the legalised and inhumane treatment of many people. “I saw and admired this Catholic Church united with Christ in the Passion, and involved as well in the new life of the Risen Christ, a Church that advocated and acted for the transformation and renewal of society in justice and peace, a brave Church, witness of the Gospel, and always faithful to the pope and to the Holy See.” He also said that today’s Church remains courageous stating that the challenges regarding the family and the challenges against life, “which is sacred from moment of conception,” are two of the areas the Church is working courageously in today. Sr Makoro described the Archbishop Cassari as a “humble man and lively person”. She said the nuncio’s joy to be back in Pretoria was very evident on the evening he had with the bishops. The nuncio did not reveal any immediate plans for his tenure but did refer to Pope Benedict’s call to new evangelisation, saying the whole Church is invited to “make an effort so that faith will be proclaimed and lived in our society in order that the Good News of the Gospel, that never changes, becomes the ferment for a life more in accordance with our Christian vocation”. But he did say that the local Church was on the right path. “I do not have to teach you anything. On the contrary, I have to learn. Allow me just to encourage you to go ahead in the name of God, and to speak out the Truth of God and on God, and to work together for his Kingdom. “So from today my homeland is to be here among you, in this Catholic Church, in which I am a pilgrim among pilgrims on our way to the true homeland of heaven and the eternal life.”
Bin Laden files: Catholics ‘fertile ground’ for conversion to radical Islam BY MICHAEL KELLY
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N al-Qaeda official concluded that Catholics were “fertile ground” for conversion, “particularly after the rage expanding against the mother church (Vatican) as a result of its scandals and policies refused by many of its public”. American al-Qaeda spokesman Adam Gadahn wrote to Osama bin Laden in Jan-
uary 2011 and laid out reasons for reaching out to Catholics, particularly the Irish. He urged bin Laden to use public anger at the Church’s mishandling of clerical abuse to encourage Irish people to convert to Islam, according to newly declassified documents. The letter was contained in files allegedly found at bin Laden’s Pakistan hideout after he was killed by US special forces in
Abbottabad, Pakistan, in May 2011. The letter from Gadahn particularly highlighted the reason for approaching the Irish, noting Ireland was not a participant in “Bush’s Crusade wars”. Gadahn wrote that Irish people, “who were the most religious of atheist Europe”, were moving toward secularism. “Why do not we face them with Islam?” he asked.
He said he considered preparing a similar message to Catholics living in Arab regions, calling them to Islam, but put off his message following backlash from an attack on a Catholic church in Iraq. Fifty-eight people died in an attack on the Syrian Catholic Church in Baghdad on October 31, 2010, after military officials tried to end a terrorist siege of the church.—CNS