Dear Brothers and Sisters, greetings from Rome.
With great sadness, we wish to inform you that last night our beloved Father Fernando Ruiz Saldarriaga passed away in Medellín, Colombia. Fr. Fernando was affected by ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Syndrome), which was diagnosed 10 months ago, in April 2019.
Fr. Fernando was born on May 24, 1968, professed on July 2, 2005, and was ordained on May 14, 2011.
He came to Rome in May 2017 to work in the General Curia first as translator for the General Council and then as Secretary General, a position he held for two years. He was well appreciated and loved by all who knew him.
Fernando nurtured a sincere and deep love for Jesus Crucified and the Virgin Mary; he was blessed with a special gift in communicating this love to others. Both the religious community and the lay people who came to know him here in the last two years share a deep impression of his joyful witness to the love of God.
As a true man of God, he entrusted himself fully to Him in taking up with courage and faith the Cross of his illness. We are grateful to God for the gift of his life to the Congregation.
May he rest in peace.
