1529 Sudden death of Fr Valentin de Pablo, Regional for Africa-Madagascar
austraLasia 1529

Sudden death of Fr Valentin de Pablo, Regional for Africa

ROME: 16th April 2006 -- The official announcement, along with details that we do not presently have, will come from ANS, but at the conclusion of the Easter midday meal today in Rome, the Rector Major announced that he had just heard from the Africa West vice province of the sudden death of Fr Valentin de Pablo, Regional Councillor for Africa-Madagascar.  He said that Valentin suddenly felt ill this morning - from there on the situation became serious and ultimately fatal.  As I say, more details of the illness and circumstances will be transmitted via ANS.
    Valentin would have been 60 on 26th April. He had first gone to Africa from Spain after his ordination in 1973, but was expelled from Mozambique by the Marxist regime there five years later.  He returned in 1993 when the political situation in Mozambique changed, and  he became the Superior of the vice province there.  From there he was elected to the General Council, at GC25, as Regional Councillor for all Africa-Madagascar.
    This writer can say that he has lost a personal friend - and that only suggests that for all of the region he was responsible for, a thousand or more confreres would feel not only the same but much, much more.  That was the kind of man he was.  He spoke good English but often sought assistance (he was without a secretary) with written material to see that it was correct.  A few moments before leaving for Africa he made a point of welcoming me to Nairobi for a meeting in May.  This was again a simple gesture of his that would have been multiplied a thousand times for every confrere for whom he had direct responsibility as Regional.
    As Fr Chavez said at the end of lunch, it is Easter, and we cannot understand the ways of the Lord except to know that this, too, is part of Easter.
    For further comment on this article, please offer your thoughts through BoscoWiki.
____________________
AustraLasia is an email service for the Salesian Family of Asia Pacific.  It also functions as an agency for ANS based in Rome.  For queries please contact admin@bosconet.aust.com   Try out BoscoWiki to be interactive. For RSS feeds, subscribe to www.bosconet.aust.com/RSS/rssala.xml