In Pace Christi

“All of us – we read in the message of the General Council for the funeral of Mons. Michele Russo – are witnesses of his love and his passion for the mission. On several occasions he did not hesitate to risk his life for his people, for the Chadians of the diocese of Doba who had become his spiritual sons and daughters and his brothers and sisters in Christ”.

He was born in San Giovanni Rotondo (Foggia) on 30 January 1945. After middle school in Troia (Foggia) and Sulmona (Aquila) and high school in Carraia (Lucca), he did the novitiate in Gozzano (Varese) where he took first vows on 9 September 1966. He went to Venegono Superiore (Varese) for the scholasticate and there took final vows on 9 September 1969. He was ordained priest on 18 March 1970.

After five years of ministry in Italy where he spent a year in Naples in missionary animation and four years in Bari in vocations promotion and with the GIM, Fr. Michele was appointed to the Province of Central Africa which included the Central African Republic and Chad.

He spent a year in Paris studying French and, in 1976, left for central Africa. For three years he exercises his ministry as curate at Mongoumba; during the next six years he was parish priest and local superior at Doba.

After a Sabbatical year in Italy, he returned to central Africa where, on 1 January 1987, he began his ministry as provincial superior.

When Chad became a delegation, Mons. Russo, who had been consecrated bishop on 21 May 1989, assumed responsibility for the diocese of Doba.

In an interview with Fr. Neno Contran, in the summer of that same year, Mons. Russo said of his diocese: “The diocese of Doba originated from the division of the diocese of Moundou which, with its 54,000 km² (an area equal to Piedmont and Lombardy together) was difficult to visit and to administer. The new diocese of Doba occupied 28,000 km², in the extreme south of Chad. The inhabitants belong to various ethnic groups: Ngambay, Gor, Kabri, etc. Catholics number 96,000… Now the country is at peace. However, the influence of Islam seems increasingly strong everywhere. Our priorities are the formation of catechists and community leaders, that is, of Christians involved in animation, not only in the religious sense but also socially and administratively. It is clear that the future of this Church lies in its Chadian vocations, both male and female”. In fact, one of the major problems the bishop had to face was the great lack of personnel dedicated to the apostolate: in the new diocese, he could count only on twenty priests (seven of whom were Chadians), thirteen missionaries and around thirty religious women (seven of whom were indigenous).

In 2011, also during an interview, Mons. Russo declared: “My 35 years of presence in Chad has given me quite a lot of self-confidence: I was formerly rather shy but now I am more sure of myself and, if I have to say something, I have no fear of doing so … For all too many years there has been an intolerable silence about Africa. It is a very rich continent in which almost all the people live miserably. This is not acceptable and it is impossible not to speak of it!”.

It was in fact due to the clear stance he took and his condemnation of the situation of the country that, on 12 October 2012 Mons. Russo was expelled from Chad. During a homily he gave some time previously on the occasion of a patron feast and badly translated into the Gambay language (and broadcast by radio), he had expressed his perplexity regarding the management of profits from oil, and especially at seeing how the local population does not benefit from those profits but continues to live in poverty. According to government authorities, the reason given for his expulsion was “activities incompatible with his role”.

Father General and his Council immediately expressed their solidarity with Mons. Russo and the population of the diocese of Doba. On 8 January, 2013, he returned to Chad with the permission of the government but, on 30 January he resigned his bishopric for health reasons. He still continued to reside in Chad while coming to Italy for treatment.

Mons. Russo returned for good to Italy in mid-2015. He lived for the rest of his years in the community of Milan where he died on 29 March 2019. His funeral took place in Milan on 1 April and in San Giovanni Rotondo on 2 April 2019.
Da Mccj Bulletin n. 282 Suppl. In Memoriam, gennaio 2020 pp. 42-47