(ANS – Mexico City) – More than 400 people from various nations have been taking part in the 5th International Conference on Mary Help of Christians currently underway at the National Shrine to Mary Help of Christians in Mexico City. The Congress was opened on Friday 17 August by Fr Pascual Chávez, Rector Major of the Salesians.
The ninth successor of Don Bosco, in the opening ceremony,  recalled the importance of devotion to the Mother of God in the way it had been fostered by the Father of the Young. “My dear brothers and sisters", said Fr Chávez, "today, as in Don Bosco`s time, social and cultural changes are profoundly and negatively affecting the family as part of the social fabric. The Church and the Salesian Family are called to offer Jesus and his Gospel as Mary did. Like Don Bosco, we members of the Salesian Family renew our vocation as pastors of the young with the mission of leading them to Christ, the only one who does not delude their deepest hopes and who is capable of assuaging their hunger and thirst for life, happiness and love. In carrying out this mission we are not alone, since Mary has been given to us as a powerful Helper against evil in the struggle for the salvation of youth; the Help of Christians who with loving maternal care looks after those who traverse this dark world by placing themselves at her feet”.
Fr Chávez was accompanied by Salesian Archbishop Angelo Amato, Secretary for the Congregation of the Faith, who was invited as a speaker; also Fr Adrian Bregolin, Vicar of the Rector Major, Fr Filiberto Rodríguez, Councillor for the West Europe Region, Sr. María de los Ángeles Contreras, Councillor for the Salesian Family with the Institute of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians, Fr Pier Luigi Cameroni, world delegate for the Association of Mary Help of Christians (ADMA) and Claudio Priante, vice president of the central ADMA group. Also present were Frs Orlando Puppo, Provincial of Japan, Fr Pietro Migliasso, Provincial of Italy-Piedmont, and Provincials of the Salesians SDB and FMA from Mexico: Fr Miguel Aguilar, from Mexico-Mexico, Frn Filiberto González, from Mexico-Guadalajara and Sr. Teresa Flores from Mexico-Mexico.
ADMA representatives from Honduras, Panama, Guatemala, Philippines, Colombia, Chile, Spain, Portugal, Peru, Venezuela, Japan, Mozambique, Canada, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Italy and Mexico have attended the Congress, which concluded today, 20 August.

Published 20/08/2007