A Salesian missionary priest has baptized more than 7,500 people in the Ethiopian village where he works. Father Giorgio Pontiggia has been stationed for years in a village outside Gambella. “When I arrived eleven years ago, I found about 40 Catholics,” he recalls. He began offering instruction, bringing residents into the Church, a few at a time. This year, the total number of baptisms reached 7,569, he says. He has been joined by another Salesian missionary, and together with their parishioners they have built several chapels around the village.
Consistory to reflect on Church’s mission to communicate God’s love
In a letter to the Cardinals ahead of a late-June Consistory, Pope Leo XIV calls for a deeper reflection on the themes of “Evangelii gaudium,”
