Brazil – Comboni Lay Missionaries

Coming together strengthens our collective journey

14 January, 2026 by Alberto de la Portilla

Participating in COP-30 in November 2025 and the Comboni Family Forum was a very memorable experience in my life. These were intense days of listening, learning, and sharing, during which I was able to closely follow important debates on climate justice, care for our Common Home, and the defense of peoples and territories.

During those days, I had some very meaningful experiences, such as Tapiri, a space for interreligious dialogue marked by respect, listening, and diversity of beliefs. I also had the opportunity to learn more about the work that the Comboni Missionaries do in other countries, which broadened my view of the struggles, challenges, and commitments undertaken in different realities.

Another very important moment was the visit to the community of Piquiá. This visit allowed us to present to the participants of the Comboni Family Forum, who came from outside, a little of our history, our struggles, and the resistance of our people. They visited the Frei Tito Community Center and also communities in the interior. It was a moment of sharing, visibility, and strengthening of our collective journey.

It was very good to see people again, talk to new people, and learn about different cultures. I take with me every conversation, every lesson learned, and every story lived. It was a remarkable experience, and I returned even stronger to continue on the journey, with faith, responsibility, and commitment to social and environmental transformation.

Mainara Bezerra, young woman from Piquiá/MA/Brazil

Responding to the cry of the earth and the abandoned.

12 November, 2025 by Alberto de la Portilla

Today, November 11, 2025, thirty-four members of the Comboni Family from around the world have gathered at the Sagrada Familia Social Center in Belém, Brazil, to celebrate the Comboni Family Forum on Integral Ecology 2025. This year’s forum is being held to coincide with COP30, an international conference on climate change.

The Comboni Family Forum on Integral Ecology (FFCEI) thus offers a concrete expression of communion with those who advocate for a just society that respects and protects our common home.

The opening session began with a prayer, followed by a brief introduction to the FFCEI, its purpose, and its mission. Participants then took part in group discussions, followed by a moment of sharing and presentation of the week’s program. The day concluded with the celebration of Holy Mass, during which participants gave thanks to God for the gift of creation and prayed for the grace to protect it.

Tomorrow we will continue to be present at the People’s Summit, which is part of COP30, with its various exhibitions and exchanges of ideas. We pray to God for the sensitivity and courage to heed and defend the cry of the earth. It is our commitment to raise awareness among the younger generations that we have only one common home and that it must be cared for with concrete actions that will endure over time.

CLM at COP30

Put the seed in the ground, it will not be in vain, don’t worry about harvesting it for your brother.

24 October, 2025 by Alberto de la Portilla

Hello brothers, I am Tito, a Comboni Lay Missionary from Brazil, currently on mission in Mozambique, Africa, more precisely in the mission of Anchilo, province of Nampula.

My job here is to coordinate and guide a group of workers in agricultural, horticultural, and animal production so that they can work the land and earn a living for their families.

Here in Anchilo, at the Paulo VI Catechetical Center, production is intended to help feed the leaders who participate in training meetings, as we have two to three, and sometimes even four, training meetings every month (Catechists, Elders, Justice and Peace, Family, Youth, IAM, Mothers, among other ministries).

I am happy to be able to help in this way in the formation of leaders.

This is also a mission.

Tito, Comboni Lay Missionary in Mozambique.

How wonderful it is to reap the fruits of one’s labor!

14 October, 2025 by Alberto de la Portilla

It is very rewarding to produce with dedication, striving for quality in nutritious, healthy, and unique food. But selling it and getting a fair price, hearing the praise of those who take it to their table, is even better.

This is what our third-year students at the Rural Family House in Açailândia experienced on Friday, thanks to a partnership between social movements, the Municipal Department of Agriculture of Açailândia, and the PAGES project of SAF/State of Maranhão. An Agroecological Fair for Family Farming.

This is the second year that the Rural Family House of Açailândia, in a project involving the subjects of Rural Economics, Introduction to Agroindustry, and others, has provided microcredit so that our students can have their first experience of entrepreneurship in the solidarity economy. We lend amounts of R$ 500 so that groups of 4 to 5 young people can produce a product based on ingredients from family farming and have a marketing experience. Thus, they produced geladim, truffles, cake in a jar, pé de moça… very tasty and sold them at school events and fairs.

Everyone repaid the microcredit and still made significant profits, in addition to learning how to organize production, marketing, working cooperatively, managing production costs, setting prices, and sharing profits. A win-win situation!

In addition, they also sold the routine production of all CFR students: fish, vegetables, fava beans, puba…

And they even helped other market vendors with their sales.

Cooperation is the way forward for family farming and overcoming capitalism!

God’s Gift of Earth

9 October, 2025 by Alberto de la Portilla

When God created the world and gave it to humankind,

He thought of their well-being, not the chaos that man would cause.

He devoted himself with great love to a full life for all.

The earth is a divine gift; without it, there is no life.

We need to change our destiny and transform reality.

We must know that we are responsible for life to continue.

Preserve what God created, reforest the place

Clean rivers and lakes, respect the ocean

Take care of animals and plants and preserve life.

Change our lifestyle, recycle and reuse

Use organic fertilizer and plant our vegetables

Change our agriculture and prevent diseases.

Demand from our authorities public policies to improve

The life of citizens and the place where they live

Have the courage to assume that politics is for working

To improve the lives of people and respect the planet.

This is the awareness that every human being should have

That we are not alone, we were made to live together

Respecting each one, because, no matter how small they may be

They have their usefulness, they have the right to live.

Laudato Si teaches us that it is possible to transform

Pope Francis shows us practices to use

The Encyclical is the path where Christians should find inspiration.

Regimar Costa – LMC Brazil in Mozambique