Addis Ababa, 17 January, 2025 / 9:11 pm (ACI Africa).
Christmas celebrations in Ethiopia found members of the Villaregia Missionary Community working with vulnerable women and children in Ethiopian provinces, about eight hours from the community’s base in the Prefecture Apostolic of Robe.
According to Fr. Emanuele Ciccia, a member of the missionary community, closeness with the vulnerable is at the heart of Christmas which was celebrated in Ethiopia on January 7, and engaging in it is the society’s way of evangelization.
“When the Catholic world celebrated the birth of Jesus, we were in the East Bale Zone, around seven to eight hours from Robe, working with the Women and Children’s Office of some provinces in the East Bale Zone to raise awareness of traditional practices that are harmful to women, including female genital mutilation and early marriage,” Fr. Ciccia says in a Thursday, January 16 report by Agenzia Fides.
He adds, “This is evangelization for us! Whatever violates the dignity of the human person is for us a privileged space for the proclamation of the Gospel... and it concerns us!”
“This was Christmas for us,” the missionary says, and continues the celebration of the birth of Jesus is “to recognize the Lord Jesus and his flesh in the most vulnerable people.”