(ANS – Port Moresby) – Fr. Valeriano Barbero SDB passed away peacefully on 14 April, 2023, the feast day of St. Valerian, in Novara, Italy. Father Val, as he was lovingly called, was born on 31 August 1938, in Novara, Italy. He made his first profession on 16 August 1956 in Pinerolo; and was ordained a priest on 18 March 1967 in Turin, Italy. After 10 years as a missionary in the Philippines, he served the Salesian mission in Papua New Guinea from 1980 until 2021, being one of the early pioneers of those presences and a tireless educator and evangelizer in those lands. He was a man with a large smile on his face, that hid away the tensions and the troubles that are always around the corner.  

(ANS - Luanda) - "Upon my return to Paraguay, after almost three months of visiting Salesian communities in Angola, I appreciated the invitation I received from the Angolan Salesian Bulletin to write my impressions. I found an incredible Easter story: from sorrow to hope, from a past of war to a life of peace, from seeds planted to growing fruits full of hope." So begins the testimony of Archbishop Edmundo Valenzuela, SDB, Archbishop Emeritus of Asunción, Paraguay, about the growth of the Salesian presence in Angola, the country where he served as a missionary in his early years as a Salesian.

(ANS - Viedma) - On Saturday, March 18 and Sunday, March 19, under the motto "Like Br. Zatti, let us not leave to tomorrow the good we can do today," the IX Pilgrimage to Viedma in honor of Artemide Zatti, SDB, the first following his canonization, was held, carried out in commemoration of the 72nd anniversary of his death on March 15, 1951. The first day began after noon, when the Rector Major of the Salesians, Fr. Ángel Fernández Artime, arrived in Viedma accompanied by the Superior of the Province of Argentina South (ARS), Fr. Darío Perera SDB, to thank God for the sanctification of Br. Zatti.

(ANS - Viedma) - On Sunday, March 19, the second day of the IX Pilgrimage to Viedma in honor of Artemide Zatti, SDB, the pilgrims who came from all over the country shared a moment of prayer in the courtyard of the old institute "San Francisco," located next to the Cathedral of Viedma, before the urn with the relics of Brother Zatti. Then, they left on a pilgrimage with the reliquaries of Br. Zatti through the streets of Viedma to Don Bosco Parish, where Mass would be held. In the meantime, in the auditorium of the "Don Bosco" parish, the Rector Major, Father Ángel Fernández Artime, had gathered the Directors and heads of the Salesian houses of the Province and all the consecrated Salesians.

(ANS - Cobija) - On Friday, March 10, 2023, the Salesian Community House and the Multipurpose Sports Field were officially handed over and blessed, works on which the new presence of the Salesians of Don Bosco in the department of Pando, in the municipality of Cobija, in the Bolivian Amazon region, is being configured and consolidated for the benefit of the children and youth of the place.

(ANS – Melbourne) – The Salesians of Don Bosco celebrate 100 years of their presence in Australia in 2023. The sons of Don Bosco arrived in Western Australia on Friday 30th March 1923 and they were warmly welcomed by fellow religious, the Oblates of Mary Immaculate, in Fremantle.