Father Innocenti: “Joyful to celebrate the 25th anniversary of my ordination”

Dearest friends, relatives, and benefactors,
I have been given the grace to celebrate this Silver Jubilee of my priestly ordination not among the people I have served for 23 years in Ethiopia and have come to love, but among you (whom I also love dearly) here in Italy, in the town and the little church where it all began, where I received the sacraments of Christian life (Baptism, First Communion, Confirmation, and Holy Orders), and where my faith and my priestly and missionary vocation blossomed and grew.

Therefore, I am delighted to invite you to pray with me and for me at the Thanksgiving Mass for the 25th Anniversary of my Priesthood at the church of San Miniato a Montebonello – Rufina (FI), on Saturday, September 19, 2026, at 6:00 PM.

I am happy with my life and with the Lord, who drew me to Himself since I was a child, placing in my heart the desire to serve Him as a priest, but my joy grew even greater when I realized that He also wanted me to be a missionary.

Saint Daniel Comboni then guided me to the realization that giving one’s life to God is not done with mere words, but by sharing it with the poorest and most abandoned people on earth, whom he found at the time among the black populations of Sudan (the Nigrizia).I found them in Ethiopia, also on the border with Sudan, in Benishangul-Gumuz, where a Nilotic people of hunter-gatherers, the Gumuz, live.

One of the priorities of our missionary work is the education of children and young people, who are the future of a people. For this reason, I invite you to think of them and to contribute to the construction of a large primary and middle school with two classes per grade, in the town of Gilgel Beles: this will be the gift most pleasing to me on the occasion of my anniversary. The project will be developed in two phases.

Although, out of obedience, I had to return to Italy to the community in Florence, my heart is always with the Gumuz, where the needs are immense and we should all strive harder to support them in their growth and development, in accordance with the Combonian motto of “Save Africa with Africa.”

I do not know exactly how long I will have to stay in Italy: many have assured me that my separation from Ethiopia will not be long, but no one has put a timeframe on it. Did they say that just to console me?

In the meantime, let us support the mission among the Gumuz from here, and the young confreres who work there. Unfortunately, clashes between the army and rebels have resumed in the Metekel Zone, and in Gilgel Beles, fighting has even taken place outside the mission compound.

Much of Ethiopia is still in turmoil, and there are many civil wars being fought against the central government: in the Amhara Region and in much of Tigray and Oromia. Peace and harmony are lacking. Let us pray for these as well.

Thank you for the precious gift that you are to me and to the needy people of Benishangul-Gumuz. I look forward to seeing you in Montebonello…

May God bless you,

Abba Marco Innocenti, mccj