Missionaries pray for priest kidnapped in Niger eight months ago

Source: Fides

Father Luigi Maccalli has been in the thoughts and prayers of all members of the Society of African Missions (SMA) gathered for their General Chapter in Rome this week.

Argentine priest Fr Ceferino Cainelli SMA, said: "A large photograph, with his smiling face, is in the room where we gather every day. While we wait with hope for his return among us, his testimony motivates us to continue with courage the mission entrusted to us by the Lord: to announce life and the union between peoples and cultures."

Fr Ceferino said: "The story of Gigi, as we call him in the family, also makes us aware of the challenges of the mission today in some countries of Africa, and elsewhere, and of the timeliness of the announcement of the Kingdom as a message of communion between the men and women of our time."

The 21st general assembly of the SMA Fathers brought together confreres from four continents as well as a representation of lay people. The missionary describes with emotion this "very intense moment of sharing, during which we look with particular attention to our life, on the continents where we carry out our missionary ministry, with a particular attention to the evangelization of Africa and to people of African origin. We are gathered together to be able to plan for the future by taking on the mission with new enthusiasm and renewed hope".

"I thank the Lord because, in the diversity of cultures and stories, we are a family of joyful witnesses in a world where divisions and violence are accentuated more and more every day", concludes Father Cainelli.