Pope to Camillo Faresin Foundation: ‘Be with the least, always!’

By Christopher Wells

The members of the Camillo Faresin Foundation (Fondazione Mons. Camillo Faresin) “set out to pick up the baton” of charity from their namesake and his two brothers, making their own “their tenacity and fullness of vision in serving their neighbours,” Pope Francis said on Saturday. 

The non-profit organization takes its inspiration from Bishop Camillo Faresin, an Italian Salesian missionary who became Bishop of Guiratinga, Brazil, and his brothers Don Santo, also a Salesian, and Giovanni Battista, who became a diocesan priest. 

The example of Bishop Camillo: Be with the least, always!

Founded twenty years ago, the Foundation is especially active in Brazil and Italy, working with the “least” members of society in fields as diverse as education, social assistance, health care, and providing decent living conditions and job opportunities. 

In his address to the Foundation, which was read by an assistant, Pope Francis highlighted their commitment to working with the “least”, especially through their presence in the poorest communities, following the example of Bishop Camillo: “What he left us is a great example to imitate: to be with the least, always!”

This, the Pope said, "is the only way to feel the ‘pulse’ of the real needs of the brothers and sisters that the Lord puts in our path.”

Working together: a proclamation of the lived Gospel

The Holy Father also emphasized the importance “working together,” urging members of the Foundation “to always seek synergy” with others. “This is the right path,” he said. “Working together, in fact, is in itself a proclamation of the lived Gospel; and for you, besides being an intelligent way of optimizing resources, it is a way of training in charity and communion.”

Pope Francis concluded his remarks by thanking members of the Foundation for their work, and asking them to keep alive the memory “of the great and generous pastoral heart of Bishop Camillo Faresin.”