Accompanied by his secretary, Fr Horacio López, he will reach the Russian capital on the evening of Friday 7 October. The official programme of the visit will begin the following day which will be spent meeting the Salesians working in Moscow and getting to know them. He will visit the Community of the Immaculate Conception which has the pastoral care of the Catholic Metropolitan Cathedral of the city, and Oktiabrskij, a nearby suburb.
In the morning, Fr Á.F. Artime will be in Oktiabrskij where he will have an opportunity to talk with the confreres and celebrate the Eucharist. In the afternoon, he will be in Moscow for a visit to the city and will spend some time sharing with the Salesians there.
On Sunday 9 October the Rector Major will spend time with the Salesian Family and in meetings with some Church representatives. He will meet the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians and will celebrate Mass with Archbishop Paolo Pezzi during which they will give thanks for the 25 years of Salesian presence in Moscow. The Salesians came in 1991 at the dissolution of the communist regime. The Rector Major will greet the Salesian Cooperators at the Bishop’s Curia and, in the afternoon, he will visit the work for abandoned children and orphans at San Giovanni Bosco, Filii, near Moscow.
He is scheduled to return to Rome on Monday morning.
The Salesian houses in Moscow and Oktiabrskij are both entrusted to the pastoral care of the Salesians of the Province of Northern Poland. There are about ten confreres in the community in Moscow led by the Rector, Fr Henryk Boguszewski. They have a centre for street children, a Salesian oratory and the care of the Cathedral Parish, with chaplaincies and catechetical activities.
There is only one Salesian working in Oktiabrskij. He is responsible for an oratory and youth centre.
