Castelnuovo Don Bosco (Italy). On 16 August 2024, at Colle Don Bosco, Castelnuovo Don Bosco (Asti), during the final celebration of the Salesian Youth Synod (SYS) in the 209th anniversary of the birth of Don Bosco, the Rector Major, Cardinal Ángel Fernández Artime, addressed to the Salesian confreres and to the entire Salesian Family his farewell message at the end of his mandate.
“I am sending you these words a few minutes after solemnly celebrating the liturgica I feast of Don Bosco’s birth at the Becchi, Colle Don Bosco, where he was born on 16 August 1815. This child was a wonderful instrument of the Spirit of God to give life to the great movement that is the Don Bosco Family.
This morning, in the presence of the Vicar of the Rector Major and many of my Salesian brothers and sisters, the Salesian Family, lay friends of Don Bosco, civil and public service authorities and 375 young people from all over the world who took part in the Youth Synod, I signed my resignation from the service as Rector Major, as established by the Constitutions and Regulations of the Salesians of Don Bosco, given that I have been called by the Holy Father, Pope Francis, to another service.
I would like to communicate to the whole Salesian world, in these words, what has taken piace. I would like to express my outlook of faith and hope in the Lord who has guided us, and I wish to express my gratitude for so much good received over these ten and a half years as Rector Major of the Congregation and, in the name of Don Bosco, as Father of the entire Salesian Family. (…)
At the end of this period at the head of the Salesian Congregation, I express particular thanks to the Vicar of the Rector Major, Fr Stefano Martoglio, who takes up his service at the head of the Congregation with total dedication and generosity. In the coming months there will be much work and great responsibility, but his personality, his fraterna! approach, his ability and optimism, with the help of the Generai Council and guided by the Lord, will facilitate the journey that remains until the 29th Generai Chapter.
I express my deep gratitude to all my Salesian confreres around the world. I have always felt welcomed, loved and fraternally accepted, and I have found collaboration and generosity. lt is true that the Salesians of Don Bosco love and care for the Rector Major as they would for Don Bosco himself, as he asked of us in his spiritual testament. Thank you for your generosity.
I would also like to express my gratitude to the Salesian Family spread throughout the world: to our sisters the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians, to the Salesian Cooperators, to the Association of Mary Help of Christians (ADMA) – all founded by Don Bosco – and so on up to the 32 groups that today make up this great charismatic tree. These were years of growth and blessing. Thank you to all the people who, through faith in the Lord, have made all this possible.
And over these ten years of my service of animation and government, during which I have been able to visit 120 of the countries in which the Congregati on and the Salesian Family are present, I have received the great gift of meeting young people around the world: little ones, teenagers, young adults, boys and girls of every nation. I was able to “see with my own eyes, feel with my heart”, first-hand, how “the educational miracles that heal and transform lives” continue to happen every day in many Salesian presences and in our family. And I was able to meet thousands and thousands of young people from all continents and cultures. They were one of my profoundest joys. (…)
There is no doubt that Don Bosco has watched over and supported his Congregation and his Family over these years. And I have no doubt that in all this time what he himself had assured us has been achieved: “She did everything”. This was the case with Don Bosco. This has been the case in the recent years to which I refer, and this will undoubtedly continue to be the case.
To her, our Mother and Help of Christians, we entrust ourselves.
From the bottom of my heart, thank you and greetings from this brother of yours who is and always will be a Salesian of Don Bosco”.
