Series: Vatican-China Agreement in Peril?

I am Fr. Aldrin Janito, one of the pioneering Filipino Comboni Missionaries. I was ordained into priesthood on June 7, 1999. After my ordination, I served as vocation promoter from 1999 until 2003. I was assigned to Sololo missions, Diocese of Marsabit in Kenya from 2003 to 2004. This two-year missionary service marked my life after witnessing the killing of my Kenyan people, who were mostly church leaders and infants. It was a horrible experience but it did not kill my missionary spirit. My last assignment was in South Africa where I spent 16 exciting years in two parishes, Waterval and Acornhoek.

“Mary arose and went with haste” (Luke, 1:39) is the biblical quotation chosen by Pope Francis as the motto for World Youth Day. Why did the pope choose this Gospel episode? Why was Mary in such a hurry to leave her home and go to meet her cousin Elizabeth?