New Comboni priest ordained in Mozambique

Fr. Leonello Bettini, 75, was born in Mondavio (PU), Italy. He has been in Mozambique for over 40 years, 20 of them spent in the parish of Benfica, on the outskirts of Maputo, the capital of Mozambique. He was ordained a priest on March 30, 1963. On April 7, before leaving the parish, Fr. Leonello celebrated his 50^th anniversary of ordination. Many of the faithful belonging to the parish community, a good number of Comboni confreres and Archbishop Francisco Chimoio of Maputo attended the celebration. The Archbishop took the occasion to introduce the new pastor of Benfica, Fr. Juan Sánchez Arenas, a Comboni Missionary from Spain, who has 12 years of experience in Mozambique.

On April 20, the missionary Crespim Cabral de Benfica Baraja was ordained to the priesthood by archbishop Claudio Dalla Zuanna in the parish of Alto da Manga, in Beira, his native place. Crespim will continue to work in Mozambique, in the parish of Alua, diocese of Nacala, where he has performed his missionary service for the last two years.

The Most Reverend Claudio Dalla Zuanna, a Dehonian missionary, has been archbishop of Beira for a little more than one year: he succeeded Archbishop Jaime Gonçalves who led the archdiocese for 26 years. The provincial superior of the Comboni Missionaries in Mozambique, Fr. José Luis Rodríguez López, thanked first of all the Archbishop for the deeply missionary tone he gave to the celebration and, in particular, the confreres who came from five dioceses – Nacala, Nampula, Tete, Maputo and Beira – where the Comboni Missionaries are present.

 
From left: Fr. José Luis Rodríguez López, 
Archbishop Claudio Dalla Zuanna, e Fr. Crespim Baraja.

From left: Fr. Leonello Bettini.

From left: Fr. José Luis Rodríguez López, Fr. Juan Sánchez Arenas,
Archbishop Francisco Chimoio, e Fr. Leonello Bettini.