Fr Adeodato Carmelo Schembri, Augustinian prior in Gozo, and Fr Alex Cauchi, of Għarb, recently met at the offices of the missionary movement Ġesu fil-Proxxmu in Victoria where they shared their past missionary vision and experiences.

They both worked in Brazil – Fr Schembri offered his services in Sao Paulo for 37 years, while Fr Cauchi worked mostly in the state of Alagoas and Paraiba as well as Amazon region for 22 years.

The topic of their short meeting together was without doubt the current COVID-19 pandemic. As of last month, Brazil, with over 18 million confirmed cases and around 510,000 deaths, had the third-highest number of confirmed cases and death toll in the world, behind only those of the United States and India.

The population of Brazil is 211 million, out of which 123 million (64.6 per cent) are Catholics. These figures make Brazil the single country with the largest Catholic community in the world.

Both priests are eager that one day they will be able to visit their respective communities and meet some of the friends with whom they worked as missionaries.