{"id":33382,"date":"2026-08-21T12:33:19","date_gmt":"2026-08-21T19:33:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/salesianbulletin.org\/?p=33382"},"modified":"2026-08-21T12:33:19","modified_gmt":"2026-08-21T19:33:19","slug":"farewell-to-fr-luciano-odorico-former-general-councillor-for-the-missions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/salesianbulletin.org\/es\/2026\/08\/21\/farewell-to-fr-luciano-odorico-former-general-councillor-for-the-missions\/","title":{"rendered":"Farewell to Fr. Luciano Odorico, Former General Councillor for the Missions"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>(ANS \u2013 Caracas)<\/strong> \u2013 The Salesians of the St. Luke Province of Venezuela have announced, with deep sadness, the passing of <strong>Fr. Luciano Odorico<\/strong>, who died on the evening of Sunday, August 16, 2026, at the House in Altamira, Caracas. Elected General Councillor for the Missions during GC23 in 1990 and subsequently re-elected by GC24 in 1996, <strong>Fr. Odorico<\/strong> dedicated his entire life to Don Bosco\u2019s mission, always making himself available wherever he was needed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The news was announced by the Superior of the Venezuelan Province, <strong>Fr. Jorge Ghazal<\/strong>, who wrote in a brief statement on August 16: \u201cBrothers, it is with great sorrow that I inform you that our confrere Luciano Odorico has passed away. Everything possible was done to keep him with us, but his body could no longer hold out. We thank God for the legacy he has left us, for the witness of his life. May the Lord welcome him into the Kingdom, into the Valdocco of heaven.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The funeral was held on August 17, 2026, at the Don Bosco Church in the Altamira district of Caracas. Many people, whether present in person or watching via livestream, wished to pay their last respects to <strong>Fr. Odorico<\/strong>, recalling his rich spiritual legacy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">A Life Entirely Devoted to the Salesian Mission<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Fr. Luciano Odorico<\/strong>, son of Cesare Odorico and Angela Papais, was born on December 13, 1938, in Ramuscello, a hamlet of Sesto al Reghena (Pordenone). He entered the Salesian novitiate in Los Teques, Venezuela, in 1955, and subsequently made his first religious profession on September 15, 1956, in Los Teques-Santa Mar\u00eda. Following his perpetual profession, which took place in 1962 in Los Teques, he continued his theological studies and was ordained a priest on December 22, 1966, in Rome.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Venezuela was the main focus of his Salesian ministry. Over the years, <strong>Fr. Odorico<\/strong> held numerous pastoral and leadership roles, including Rector and Provincial Councillor. From 1978 to 1984, he served as Provincial of Venezuela.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">His missionary experience also took him to Africa and Oceania. Between 1986 and 1990, he served as Rector of the Utume community in Nairobi and subsequently as Vice Provincial for East Africa. Between 2002 and 2013, he served in Papua New Guinea and the Philippines North Province, holding various positions of responsibility and providing guidance to Salesian communities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A particularly significant moment in his ministry was his service at the Salesian Generalate in Rome. From 1990 to 2002, <strong>Fr. Odorico<\/strong> served as General Councillor for the Salesian Missions, a role in which he contributed to the promotion and coordination of the Congregation\u2019s missionary dimension worldwide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In 2013, he returned to the Province of Venezuela, where he continued to offer his experience as a vicar, Provincial Councillor, and formator. Between 2020 and 2026, he was once again a member of the Provincial Council of Venezuela.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Beginning in September 2024, <strong>Fr. Odorico<\/strong> resided in the Caracas-Altamira community, at the provincial infirmary, where he spent the final years of his life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">With his passing, the Salesian Congregation has lost a figure who served in various contexts of the Salesian mission\u2014from Venezuela to Africa, from Oceania to the Generalate\u2014offering his pastoral, educational, and missionary service for decades.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>(ANS \u2013 Caracas) \u2013 The Salesians of the St. Luke Province of Venezuela have announced, with deep sadness, the passing of Fr. Luciano Odorico, who died on the evening of Sunday, August 16, 2026, at the House in Altamira, Caracas. Elected General Councillor for the Missions during GC23 in 1990 and subsequently re-elected by GC24 in 1996, Fr. Odorico dedicated his entire life to Don &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/salesianbulletin.org\/es\/2026\/08\/21\/farewell-to-fr-luciano-odorico-former-general-councillor-for-the-missions\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continuar leyendo <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Farewell to Fr. Luciano Odorico, Former General Councillor for the Missions<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":10336596,"featured_media":33387,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_wpcom_ai_launchpad_first_post":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[217,516714022],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-33382","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-announcements","category-salesian-world-news"],"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p59ePG-8Gq","jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/salesianbulletin.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/2026-08-21-Fr-Odorico-feature.jpg?fit=1600%2C875&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/salesianbulletin.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33382","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/salesianbulletin.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/salesianbulletin.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/salesianbulletin.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10336596"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/salesianbulletin.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33382"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/salesianbulletin.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33382\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33388,"href":"https:\/\/salesianbulletin.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33382\/revisions\/33388"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/salesianbulletin.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33387"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/salesianbulletin.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33382"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/salesianbulletin.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33382"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/salesianbulletin.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33382"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}