Blessing of the Statue of Saint John Bosco (30 June 1980)

On Monday, 30 June 1980, the Holy Father blessed the statue of Saint John Bosco in Brasilia. These are the words with which he accompanied the blessing.

I am now going to carry out an extremely simple gesture, but one that has a profound meaning: the blessing of this statue of Saint John Bosco, Don Bosco, as he is still affectionately called, even many years after his canonization.

Brasília is forever linked to Don Bosco, through that mysterious dream, in which, 75 years in advance, it seems that he glimpsed the birth of the city, in the middle of a hot fenced off land, on a plateau until then deserted.

By blessing this image, I pay a heartfelt tribute of veneration to the beloved Saint of the young, father of intrepid and indefatigable missionaries from nearby Mato Grosso and Goiás, chosen heavenly patron of this capital. I do it as if I were doing it in his charming hermitage, a memory of the beginnings of Brasilia, where this image will be installed and will receive worship in its magnificent sanctuary in the city:

I express my wishes and pray that Brasilia more and more translates into reality the dream of a great saint. May the young people, favorites of Don Bosco, grow up here with the possibility of knowing and living the Gospel. May families realize the ideal of the Holy Family of Nazareth. May Brasilia always be a city for human persons: welcoming, fraternal, serene. May beautiful Christian communities flourish here. May beautiful and promising priestly and religious vocations arise in those families and communities.

With such sentiments and vows, I fervently bless this image.

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