Rector Major Fr. Angel Fernandez, SDB: Our biggest challenge is to stay loyal to God

Good Night Talk of Fr. Ángel Fernández Artime, SDB to Salesians, Salesian Family and Youth of the World

Fr. Ángel Fernández Artime, SDB: "I abandon myself to the Lord!"

(ANS - Rome) The 27th General Chapter has elected Fr Ángel Fernández Artime, Provincial of Southern Argentina, as new Rector Major and Tenth Successor of Don Bosco.

The election took place at 10.20 a.m., on the first ballot, and was welcomed  with long applause. Fr Pascual Chávez, President of the Assembly, invited Fr Angel to come beside him, and said: "Dear Fr Ángel, through your confreres God has called you today to be the successor of Don Bosco. You are not called to be like the Rector Major, nor Don Vecchi nor Don Viganó. You are the successor of Don Bosco, not of Don Chavez. So, on behalf of the Chapter, I ask you if you accept."

Speaking in Spanish, Fr Angel said with an emotional heart: "I abandon myself to the Lord. We ask Don Bosco and Mary Help of Christians to accompany us and to accompany me, with my brother Salesians and with the Congregation, and I accept with faith."

The new Rector Major began right away to receive the embrace of all the Chapter members.

The New Rector Major: Fr. Ángel Fernández Artime, SDB

(ANS)  The 27^th General Chapter has elected Fr Ángel Fernández Artime, Provincial of Southern Argentina, as tenth Successor of Don Bosco.

The election took place at 10.20 on the first ballot.

The official announcement was welcomed with long and warm applause.

Fr Ángel Fernández Artime, 53 years of age was born 21 August 1960 at Gozón-Luanco, Spain; he made his first profession on 3 September 1978, his perpetual profession on 17 June 1984 and was ordained priest on 4 July 1987. Originally from León Province, he has been Youth Ministry Delegate, Rector of the school at Ourense, member of the Council and Vice Provincial and, from 2000 to2006, Provincial of León.

He was a member of the technical commission in preparation for General Chapter 26. In 2009 he was appointed Provincial in Argentine South, a task he has carried out until now.In this capacity he got to know the then Archbishop of Buenos Aires, Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, now Pope Francis, and to work with him.

He has a Doctorate in Pastoral Theology and a Licence in Philosophy and Pedgagy.

On 23 December last he was appointed Provincial of the new province of Mary Help of Christians in Spain, an office which Fr Angel will obviously not now be able to take on, since he will exercise his ministry as Father of the whole Salesian Family. 

Best wishes, Fr Angel!

A Salesian General Chapter is beginning! Follow it here!

The Salesians of Don Bosco are about to begin the 27th General Chapter in Rome!  The Chapter is held every 6 years with all 120 provinces and 132 nations represented.  This year we pray for the Holy Spirit to assist the Chapter participants to choose a new Rector Major for the Salesian Family as Fr. Pascual Chavez, SDB is completing his 2nd 6 year term as the successor to Don Bosco.  You can follow the proceedings at Fr. Mike Pace's blog: A Chapter's Pace!

I will link to Fr. Mike's blog on the GC27 image to the right.

Here is the latest on the proceedings for the General Chapter participants from the Salesian News Agency:

Tomorrow morning, Saturday21 February, the members of the General Council and the Chapter members who have already arrived in Rome for the 27th General Chapter, will leave at dawn for Turin. There they will have three intense days of Salesian spirituality, reflection and fellowship.

The Salesians from the General House will travel by coach and will reach Turin in the early afternoon. There they will meet with other Chapter members who will be waiting for them in Turin. During the three days , they will all be accommodated at the Salesian House of Valdocco, the heart of the entire Salesian Congregation.

The activities will be concentrated between Saturday afternoon and Monday morning . Divided into language groups - in Italian , English and Spanish - the participants of the pilgrimage will study the theme of the chapter "Work and Temperance" in the history of Don Bosco and the Congregation:

• Valsalice, at the tomb of Don Bosco, in relation to his spiritual testament (Saturday afternoon);

• Becchi, where Don Bosco was born, in relation to the origins of his charism (Sunday morning);

• Valdocco, the birthplace of the Salesian Oratory, with specific attention to the lifestyle, the radicalism and apostolic zeal of the early generations of Salesians (Sunday afternoon 23);

• The Church of St. John the Evangelist , focusing on the contributions of the Successors of Don Bosco (Monday morning).

Among the other activities, there will be the Eucharist on Saturday afternoon (18:00 - GMT +2) in the Basilica of Mary Help of Christians, at which the Rector Major will preside and all the priests of the Chapter will concelebrate. The celebration will be broadcast live by satellite Telepace.

On the same Saturday evening, the Rector Major and the Chapter members will be entertained by a show staged for them in Valdocco by the post-novices from Nave.

Salesian Rector Major's Message to the Salesian Family

(ANS – Rome) – Given the election of Pope Francis, the Salesian Rector Major, Fr Pascual Chávez Villanueva, offers the Congregation and the Salesian Family a new message that confirms the great bond that Salesians have with St Peter's Successor.

I had the grace of being in St Peter's Square packed with thousands upon thousands of people, especially young people, at the moment that we heard the much-awaited proclamation:

“Annuntio vobis gaudium magnum;
habemus Papam:
Eminentissimum ac Reverendissimum Dominum,
Dominum Georgium Marium
Sanctae Romanae Ecclesiae Cardinalem Bergoglio
qui sibi nomen imposuit.
FRANCISCUM”.

Even though he was not amongst the “papabili”, and initially this caused some confusion for those who did not know him, there was no delay in the welcome that was given to the New Successor of St Peter and the response was a lengthy applause, shouts of joy, and then the first chants: 'Francesco, Francesco, Francesco....'.

Once again it was the Holy Spirit guiding the Cardinals in choosing the man God himself had chosen as the Vicar of Christ.

With all of you, dear brothers and sisters, members of the entire Salesian Family, and young people, I praise and thank the Lord for the great gift he has given us in the person of Card. Jorge Mario Bergoglio, a Jesuit, Archbishop of Buenos Aires, whom I had the grace of getting to know, and dealing with him personally in the General Latin American Epsicopal Conference at Aparecida and, later, for the Beatification of Ceferino Namuncurà.

The choice of name, Francis, is significant because in a certain way it picks up some of his characteristic traits - simplicity, poverty, authenticity – and at the same time it becomes programmatic since it highlights some elements that describe the face of the Church today and its relationship with the world.

Before imparting his first blessing as Pontiff, he asked us to bless him. In profound silence each one did this from the depths of his or her heart, allowing themselves to be guided by the Spirit. I now invite you to invoke the abundant gifts of the Holy Spirit on him, so that he may have the light to discern what the Lord expects of His Church today and may find the energy to do it.

In a spirit of faith and with much esteem and devotion we welcome Pope Francis, as Don Bosco would have done, and while we entrust him to the care and maternal guidance of Mary, Help of Christians, we assure him of our affection, our obedience and our most sincere and clear collaboration at this time of new evangelisation.

Fr Pascual Chávez V., SDB
Rector Major

Holy Father has appointed the Salesian Rector Major as a Consulter for the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of the New Evangelization

The Salesian News Agency reports a new honor for our Salesian Rector Major:

On 19 May the Holy Father has appointed new Consulters for the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of the New Evangelisation. Among them is Fr Pascual Chávez Villanueva, Rector Major of the Salesians.

With Fr Chávez, who is President of the Union of Superiors General (USG), are Mons. Fernando Ocáriz (Spain), Vicar General of the Personal Prelature of Opus Dei; Fr. Julián Carrón (Spain), President of Communion and Liberation; Fr François-Xavier Dumortier, S.I. (France), Rector Magnificus of the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome; Fr Pierangelo Sequeri (Italy), Vice Principal and Lecturer in Fundamental Theology at the Theological Faculty of Northern Italy,; Sr Sara Butler (United States of America), of the Missionary Servants of the Most Blessed Trinity, Lecturer in Dogmatic Theology at the St. Mary of the Lake University,; Sr Mary Lou Wirtz, F.C.J.M. (United States of America), Superior General of the Daughters of the Sacred Hearts of Jeus and Mary, President of the International Union of Female Superiors General. Also on the list are the lay people Dr Chiara Amirante (Italy), Founder and Leader of the "New Horizons Association "; Mt. Kiko Argüello (Spain), Leader of the International Team of the New-Catecumenal Way; Prof. Lucetta Scaraffia (Italy), Lecturer in History at the Faculty of Literature and Philosophy at La Sapienza University in Rome.

The Pontifical Council established on 28 June 2010 by Benedict XVI, “whose principal task will be to promote a renewed evangelization in the countries where the first proclamation of the faith has already resonated and where Churches with an ancient foundation exist but are experiencing the progressive secularization of society and a sort of "eclipse of the sense of God", which pose a challenge to finding appropriate to propose anew the perennial truth of Christ`s Gospel.”

On the following 30 June Archbishop Salvatore Fisichella was appointed President of the new Pontifical Council. On 12 October 2010 the Apostolic Letter in the form of a motu proprio, “Ubicumque et Semper” was published by which the Roman Pontiff established the department and named its members.