Honor to FMA for loyalty in service to the Pope – BOL

La Paz (Bolivia). On 21 July 2025, in La Paz, at the headquarters of the Apostolic Nunciature in Bolivia, Sister Alicia Teresa Alvarado Gagliardi, Daughter of Mary Help of Christians, Peruvian missionary in Bolivia, received the Cross pro Benemerenti, an important honor of the Holy See with a badge of honor, for her 42 years of faithful service to the Pope and the Holy See.

Present at the consignment ceremony were the Apostolic Nuncio to Bolivia, Bishop Fermín Sosa Rodríguez, Bishop Percy Galván, Archbishop in Bolivia, with his auxiliary bishops, Bishop Mario Luís Durán Berrios and Bishop Pedro Luis Fuentes Valencia, the Provincial of the “Our Lady of Peace” Province (BOL), Sister Gabriela Vivero Herrera.

On April 3, 1983, Sister Alicia had been commissioned to serve the Holy Father and the Holy See at the Apostolic Nunciature in Bolivia. In these over four decades of silent, kind, professional, and helpful service, but above all putting her heart into the task entrusted to her, she has collaborated with ten Apostolic Nuncios.

She began her service with Monsignor Alfio Rapisarda, an Italian prelate of the Catholic Church who worked in the diplomatic service of the Holy See from 1962 to 2008, with the title of Apostolic Nuncio from 1979, and with each of his nine successors, including the current one, Monsignor Fermín Sosa Rodríguez. Its presence was a historic bridge, connecting the events in Bolivia with the mission of the Apostolic Nunciature.

Sister Alicia is an example of total dedication to her religious vocation. With sweet obedience, she agreed to leave her previous activities to dedicate herself completely to this service. As a good Salesian, she embodied the values of Saint John Bosco, who always said, “May a wish from the Pope be a mandate for you.” This was a constant in the life of Sister Alicia, who was able to respond with humble obedience, for the love of the Church and the Holy Father.

Precisely in recognition of her exceptional path, as can be read on the parchment, Pope Leo XIV he decreed the granting of the golden honor of Merit to the Reverend Sister Alicia Alvarado Gagliardi, of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians, particularly endowed with Christian virtues, with the authorization to boast this recognition in the Vatican headquarters in Bolivia.

To Sister Alicia and the Bolivian Province, congratulations on this important honor, with the wish to continue to shine the example of generous availability and dedication to the service required by the Holy See, in the wake of the Holy Founders.

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