Santiago Taboada<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In one of the most isolated places on Earth, more than 600 miles from the nearest city, 200 Argentines live and work in Antarctica. Some spend the entire winter there, when the sun never rises, wind gusts can exceed 185 miles an hour, and temperatures plunge well below minus 40.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In a place this remote and unforgiving, simply surviving is a challenge. It seems impossible that the Church can minister to the people living at these isolated research stations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But that's exactly what the Argentine Military Ordinariate does. In 2023, Father Francisco Roverano was responsible for providing pastoral care to the country's Antarctic bases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
FR. FRANCISCO ROVERANO<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Every year, when the icebreaker boat sets sail, a chaplain goes to minister to the crew. He also accompanies those staying behind to spend the winter in Antarctica, as well as those who later return to the mainland.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n The priest selected for the mission must bring everything needed for ministry at the Antarctic bases, including hosts, wine, ceremonial robes, and all the supplies required to celebrate the sacraments\u2014even First Communion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Fr. Roverano spent four months aboard the icebreaker before remaining another nine months at Esperanza Base. Then, he traveled by helicopter to restore the Blessed Sacrament, hear confessions, and celebrate Mass in Argentina's seven chapels scattered across Antarctic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n One of those Masses took place at the southernmost church on Earth: Our Lady of the Snows Chapel at Belgrano II Base.<\/p>\n\n\n\n FR. FRANCISCO ROVERANO<\/p>\n\n\n\n There are no lakes at Belgrano II, so they have to melt blocks of ice in order to get drinking water. As they continued digging, they created a sort of cave. Because it's always so cold, they don't need refrigerators or cold storage rooms to preserve food like other research bases. Those caves work as sort of natural refrigerators. At some point, someone said, 'let's turn this cave, this space, into a chapel.' And that's how the Our Lady of the Snows Chapel at Belgrano II site came to be.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n The Church's presence in Antarctica began after Argentine military personnel asked for a priest to accompany them. Chapel modules were later installed, and existing rooms at several research stations were transformed into oratories. Ever since, the Argentine Military Ordinariate has kept that tradition alive, sending a chaplain to Antarctica every year to ensure that, even at the bottom of the world, the Church remains present.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Santiago Taboada In one of the most isolated places on Earth, more than 600 miles from the nearest city, 200 Argentines live and work in Antarctica. Some spend the entire winter there, when the sun never rises, wind gusts can exceed 185 miles an hour, and temperatures plunge well below minus 40. In a place […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":758,"featured_media":94008,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"acf":{"video":"https:\/\/youtu.be\/eaDyuxeMSic","video_descarga":"https:\/\/attuale.romereports.com\/news\/bchiesaantarticaeng.mp4","international_url":"https:\/\/attuale.romereports.com\/news\/bchiesaantarticaint.mp4","type":"bn","newsletter":"si"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.romereports.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94007"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.romereports.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.romereports.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.romereports.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/758"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.romereports.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=94007"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.romereports.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94007\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":94011,"href":"https:\/\/www.romereports.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94007\/revisions\/94011"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.romereports.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/94008"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.romereports.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=94007"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.romereports.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=94007"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.romereports.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=94007"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}