FINDING A HOME
This painting represents the reality of so many people in the world looking for a place to stay, especially as they flock into crowded modern cities, searching for jobs or fleeing from various situations of conflict. The need to create living spaces for them is acute. Like Joseph and Mary, who found no place at the inn, millions of people risk ending up unsheltered in the streets and deprived of a dignified dwelling which they can call home.
Painting by Fr Raul Tabaranza MCCJ
RADAR
THE SUPERIOR GENERAL OF THE COMBONI MISSIONARIES APPOINTED AUXILIARY BISHOP OF ADDIS ABABA
ON 6 November 2024, Pope Francis nominated Fr Tesfaye Tadesse Gebresilasie, Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Addis Ababa (capital of Ethiopia). Fr Tesfaye was the Superior General of the Comboni Missionaries of the Heart of Jesus (MCCJ) since the 2015 Chapter. At the end of the 2022 Chapter Fr Tesfaye was re-elected for a further six-year period. With his nomination now as Bishop, the MCCJ must elect a new Superior General for the following years until the end of the mandate in 2028.
Fr Tesfaye was born in Harar, Ethiopia, on 22 September 1969 and a few months later moved to Addis Ababa, from where his family came. There he completed his schooling. In 1986 he entered the postulancy of the Comboni Missionaries and studied philosophy at the Philosophicum at the Capuchin Franciscan Institute of Philosophy and Theology (CFIPT) in Addis Ababa. After finishing his theological studies at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome (91-94), he completed the Propaedeutic Year of Islamic Studies (94-95) at the Pontifical Institute of Islamic and Arabic Studies in Rome (PISAI). He studied Arabic at the academic centre, Dar Comboni, in Cairo, followed by another year of Islamological studies at PISAI (96-97). From 2000 to 2001 he pursued a Licentiate in Arabic Studies and Islamology at the same institute.
He took his first vows at the Institute of the Comboni Missionaries on 1 May 1991 at their novitiate in Awassa, Ethiopia, and his perpetual vows in Rome on 1 November 1994. He was ordained deacon in Rome on 6 January 1995 and priest in Addis Ababa, in his parish of the Lord the Saviour, on 26 August 1995. After his Islamological studies, he served as parish priest in Omdurman, Khartoum, Sudan from from 1997 to 2000, and in the Vicariate of Awassa in Ethiopia in the years 2001 to 2002.
After a short training course at the Salesian University of Rome, he exercised his priestly ministry in vocation promotion and formation from 2003 to 2004. In 2005 he was elected provincial superior of the Comboni Missionaries in Ethiopia, until September 2009, when he was elected General Councillor at the XVII General Chapter of MCCJ in 2009. From 2005 to 2009 he served as president of the Association or Conference of Major Religious Superiors of Ethiopia. In 2015, during the XVIII General Chapter, he was elected Superior General and at the XIX General Chapter he was re-elected for the same office.
From 2017 to 2022 he was Vice-President and subsequently President of SEDOS, and from 2018 to 2021 he was a member of the Executive Council of the USG (Union of General Superiors). He participated in the first and second sessions of the Synod on Synodality in October 2023 and 2024 as an elected delegate of the USG.
Source: https://misioneroscombonianos.com.mx
IMMEDIATE AND DECISIVE ACTION NEEDED TO ERADICATE WORLD HUNGER
Pope Francis addressed the G20 Summit for international economic cooperation, hosted in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 18 to 19 November 2024. The meeting was attended by the leaders of the 19 member countries, plus delegates from the African Union and the European Union. The Pope’s words, read by Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican Secretary of State, called for immediate efforts by all to eradicate world hunger and poverty.
ILLEGAL MINING CLAMPDOWN IN SOUTH AFRICA: TREATING DESPERATE PEOPLE LIKE CRIMINALS IS AN INJUSTICE
Illegal artisanal gold mining in South Africa is in the spotlight again. Under Operation Vala Umgodi (“plug the hole”), South African authorities have since December 2023 been trying to disrupt the illicit gold mining economy by cutting off water, food and other supplies to the miners working underground.
“PASSION FOR CHRIST – PASSION FOR HIS PEOPLE”
I AM the fourth child of seven (four brothers and two sisters). All my schooling and tertiary studies were completed in Pretoria. I worked for two different companies for a total of 15 years as a computer programmer, systems analyst and project manager. I enjoy nature, gardening, music, cooking and watching international rugby, football, athletics and cricket.
CLIMATE SUMMITS MATTER
The Cop29 UN climate talks in Azerbaijan concluded on 24 November 2024, 12 days after its opening. Delegates from nearly 200 countries met to discuss key issues: a new global climate finance goal and what needs to be done about fossil fuels.