Rome (Italy). On 7 May 2026, at the “Fraterna Domus” retreat center in Sacrofano, Rome, the 6th World Congress of Salesian Cooperators opened, attended by approximately 400 Salesian Cooperators and Delegates from the Salesians of Don Bosco and the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians, hailing from the 11 Regions across the five continents where the Association is present, comprising a membership of approximately 30,000.
“To be leaven in order to be fruitful” is the motto of the Congress, convened by the Rector Major, Fr. Fabio Attard, the center of unity of the Salesian Family, and organized by the Association’s World Council (ASSCC).
The event officially began with a Eucharistic Celebration presided over by the Rector Major, and the proceedings were introduced by the two World Delegates, Domenico Nguyen, a Salesian Coadjutor, and Sister Lucrecia Uribe, FMA who reviewed the three-year preparatory period leading up to the Congress. This period was coordinated by the World Executive Secretariat and structured around three key themes: “Remembering the personal call to become a member of the Association; Renewing the promise that commits us to the evangelical path of the Beatitudes, embracing a Salesian style capable of actively engaging with today’s world; and Relaunching our charismatic responses within diverse socio-cultural contexts, drawing upon Don Bosco’s original vision, fostering a strong synodal sense of Church, and holding fast to the certainty that we are called to be leaven in order to be fruitful.” They also introduced the flags of the 11 Regions, which were carried by their respective World Councilors accompanied by another Salesian Cooperator.
The Congress anthem was followed by institutional greetings from Antonio Boccia, the Association’s World Coordinator: “We gather here not merely for an organizational meeting, but for a moment of grace that will shape our path in the years to come. Every World Congress, just like the 5th Congress held in 2018, represents a crossroads for our Association and for the entire Salesian Family: a place where the history that precedes us meets the challenges the Lord entrusts to us today, and where, together, we seek to discern—with the eyes and heart of Don Bosco—the face of the world and of the young people who await us tomorrow.
This Congress aims to be precisely this: an opportunity to renew our lay vocation, to strengthen the bonds of co-responsibility with our Pastors, and to return to the local Churches and our communities an Association that is more united, more missionary, and more capable of generating life.”
Once the greetings had concluded, the proceedings immediately got underway with an address by the Rector Major, Fr. Fabio Attard, who explained the rationale behind the event’s theme as follows: “Leaven is small, almost invisible, yet it transforms the entire batch of dough. This is how Don Bosco envisioned the Salesian Cooperators: laymen and laywomen immersed in the daily life of the people, in families, in the workplace, and in society, capable of bringing the power of the Gospel and the Salesian charism from within, so that the lives of young people may grow and mature.
We are living through a historical era marked by profound cultural changes, social crises, wars, migrations, and new forms of material and spiritual poverty. The temptation toward pessimism is strong: ‘nothing more can be done,’ ‘young people do not listen,’ ‘society is lost.’ And yet, precisely today, the Lord calls us to be leaven: small, mixed into the dough, hidden, yet alive and capable of generating fruitfulness.”
He then structured his presentation into three parts. The first focused on the original project that the Spirit stirred in the heart of Don Bosco, “to understand how the Cooperators were, from the very beginning, envisioned as ‘leaven’ within the Church and society.” In the second part, he outlined certain features of this original project “that powerfully command our attention today, serving to guide our actions.” In the third part, drawing upon the Gospel imagery of the Wedding at Cana, he articulated four verbs—to look, to listen, to choose, and to act—“as concrete attitudes characteristic of a Salesian leaven called to be fruitful in the world today.”
On 8 May, following the Eucharistic Celebration presided over by Father Joan Lluís Playà, Delegate of the Rector Major for the Salesian Family, the morning opened with an address, delivered via video, due to her departure for the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where the Centenary of FMA presence is being celebrated, by the Superior General of the FMA Institute, Mother Chiara Cazzuola.
Expressing her joy in sending this message, also on behalf of all the FMA, Mother Chiara shared some reflections on the theme of the Congress regarding the feminine expression of the Salesian Charism, recalling that Don Bosco, “from the very beginning, involved generous women and men of good will in his educational project for the realization of Da mihi animas, cetera tolle. The phrase he repeated time and again toward the end of his life serves as a perfect synthesis of this objective of his, ‘I have always needed everyone.’ I am convinced that this Congress represents a precious opportunity for a revitalization of the Salesian vocation and mission from the perspective of reciprocity.”
And she emphasized the importance of carrying forward together the “commitment to accompany young people, supporting them in their search for the meaning of life, and in building a future of peace, fraternity, social friendship, and responsibility for our common home.
Today, the Salesian charism, a gift and fruit of the Spirit, lives on through us. It engages and reaches a multitude of realities, spreading across various social contexts on a global scale. This serves as a sign that what our Founders have handed down to us retains an extraordinary relevance and vitality. Together, as Salesians, Daughters of Mary Help of Christians, Salesian Cooperators, members of the Salesian Family, and collaborators in the diverse services rendered on behalf of young people, and in a time of rapid change and formidable challenges, we are called to discern how to be educators who prevent because they prophetically intuit the signs of the times, and possess a forward-looking vision that enables them to respond to the deepest needs of young people, wherever they may be found beneath the various skies of our globe.”
The morning continued with the Roundtable discussion, “A Look at the Salesian Family” and a presentation on the status of the Association, led by the World Coordinator. At the close of the day, Sister Leslie Sándigo, General Councilor for the Salesian Family of the FMA Institute, gave the “Good Night”.
The event—enriched by round tables, regional working groups, and celebratory and recreational activities—will culminate on May 9th, when the Association’s 150th anniversary will be officially celebrated with the introduction of the new World Coordinator, and will conclude on 10 May.
“One hundred and fifty years later, the modernity of this project remains strong, serving as a response to the needs of its own time, as well as ours. The peripheries of which Don Bosco spoke have changed their address, but not their nature. Vulnerable young people are certainly not lacking. On the contrary; they are found in digital peripheries as well as geographical ones, in the solitude of metropolises, in school dropout rates, and in the loss of meaning that afflicts entire generations. The mission of the Salesian Cooperators continues to be a response that is more relevant and urgent than ever.” These are the words of the Rector Major, which aptly express the commitment and dynamism of this Group within the Salesian Family.
