Father Mario Marazzi, Father Giosuè Bonzi, and Father Fernando Cagnin have lived in Hong Kong for many years—in what was still a British colony when the first Italian missionary, Father Paolo Reina, arrived in 1858. In 2008, marking 150 years since his arrival, the fathers erected a monument to commemorate the beginning of their mission, always devoted to serving the poorest in the proclamation of the Gospel. This is what we see in the photograph they sent us.
First from the left is Father Giosuè Bonzi: since 1977, he has been co-founder and spiritual advisor of the Fu Hong Society (originally known in English as The Society of Homes for the Handicapped). Since 1997, he has lived as "Elder Brother" in the Encounter Family-care Home with a small group of men and women with intellectual disabilities—the first of four family homes he founded. There, "as long as the Lord permits," he intends to conclude his missionary work in Hong Kong-China. Next is Father Fernando Cagnin, who has served the disabled at Huiling in China for over twenty years. He is currently in Hong Kong temporarily due to bureaucratic difficulties with his residence and work visa in the People's Republic of China. Father Ignazio Lo is a diocesan priest of Hong Kong and "Elder Brother" in one of the Fu Hong Society's family homes. Finally, Father Franco Cumbo and Father Mario Marazzi are two missionary collaborators in work on behalf of people with disabilities. Father Mario himself wrote to us in 2010 about his return to Guangzhou (known to us as Canton) after a holiday in Italy, in his village on Lake Como. He described how precious his experience had been living alongside the people he shared life with. He also told us of a high-speed train that would connect that southern part of China with Wuhan—a name we now know well! The price of a second-class ticket, however, was half the monthly salary of one of the family home "mothers" who had moved from the countryside for work. Their correspondence has always offered us precious glimpses into a world that in many ways remains little known and difficult to understand. Through their voices, we feel it much closer to us.