Canção Nova television broadcast a report on the 9th International Congress of Mary Help of Christians. 36 years after the first international congress, which took place in Valdocco, Turin, Fatima will host members of Don Bosco’s Family for four days.

After the last edition, which took place in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in 2019, on the 150th anniversary of ADMA, Portugal will host the 9th Congress in Fatima. The meeting, which usually takes place every four years, will bring together the entire Salesian Family in Fatima, involving and uniting the 32 groups.

Salesian Fr. António Marcelino, from the preparation team, justified the choice of the Shrine of Fatima to host the meeting because it is the main place of Marian worship in Portugal and one of the main Marian shrines in the world. “If the Congress wanted to be held in Portugal, the place couldn’t be any other. Only Fatima,” he said.

Fr. António Marcelino from the preparation team 9th Congress

The congress is promoted by the Association of Devotees of Mary Help of Christians and is expected to bring together hundreds of participants from dozens of countries where the Salesian charism and devotion to Our Lady Help of Christians are present.

“At the event, the 32 groups will renew their consecration to Mary and their educational, missionary and charitable commitment received from Don Bosco,” says the piece.

Renato Valera, president of the Association of Devotees of Mary Help of Christians, explains the importance of the Congress as a reinforcement of Salesian identity, the “foundation in Jesus in the Eucharist and in Mary Help of Christians”. “These are the two pillars that Don Bosco envisioned as the support for the entire Salesian Family,” he says.

To understand what ADMA is, Alejandro Guevara, the group’s spiritual animator, refers to Don Bosco. “We can say that it is a monument to the Grace of Mary in his life,” another sign of this homage being the Basilica of Mary Help of Christians that he built in Valdocco and the foundation of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians in 1872.

International Congress of Mary Help of Christians in 2019 in Buenos Aires

Sister Carmen Lucrecia Uribe, a Daughter of Mary Help of Christians, explains how the Salesian charism is present in her vocation. “We live Don Bosco’s Preventive System with a great intuition to save young people,” just like Don Bosco and Mother Mazzarello.

36 years after the first international congress, which took place in Valdocco, Turin, Fatima will host members of Don Bosco’s Family for four days.

The 9th International Congress of Mary Help of Christians will be attended by the Rector Major, Cardinal Ángel Fernández Artime, and the Mother General of the FMA, Sister Chiara Cazzuola.

The full report can be seen on Canção Nova’s YouTube channel.

Since 2009, the Canção Nova community has been one of the groups of the Salesian Family.