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A missionary: “I am leaving Niger, but not Father Maccalli: the mission continues with the mark of the cross”

Father Vito Girotto, priest of the Society for African Missions: "I am definitely leaving Niger, but in times of coronavirus it is difficult to travel; and I carry in my heart a wealth of memories made up of questions and absences, such as that of Father Gigi Maccalli, but also of hopes".

“Who knows of my next departure from this country, where I carried out my mission together with Fr. Gigi, asks me the question: ‘Why are you leaving when Fr. Pier Luigi is still a prisoner in Africa?’. Some ask me to wait until our father (Pierluigi Maccalli) is released, in order to have a big party and then leave together. Let us continue to pray: God is great and we entrust ourselves to him”, he told Fides news agency.

The missionary, on the eve of his departure from Niger, describes the faces of people, images of the 10 years spent in this country of the Sahel, projects carried out together, planning meetings for many pastoral and humanitarian activities, feasts lived together in joy and in collaboration with Fr. Gigi Maccalli:

“Now the mission is on the cross, and the cross that stood on the hill of Bomoanga, removed from the pedestal and therefore now no longer visible to those who were used to seeing it from afar, reminds me of my friend and confrere, who is carrying a heavy and hidden cross, due to the violence suffered, in the Sahara desert”.

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