Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) - The Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI on November 16 received in audience participants at a Meeting for General Superiors of Missionary Societies of Apostolic Life, promoted by the Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples, accompanied by the Prefect of the Congregation Cardinal Ivan Dias. The participants included the General Superiors (or their delegates) of fifteen Mission Societies of pontifical right and six of diocesan right. “Your assembly, - the Pope said in his address - which brings together the Superiors of the fifteen Missionary Societies of pontifical right and the six of diocesan right, bears eloquent witness to the continuing vitality of the missionary impulse in the Church and the spirit of communion uniting your members and their manifold activities to the Successor of Peter and his universal apostolic ministry. Your meeting is also a concrete sign of the historic relationship between the various Missionary Societies of Apostolic Life and the Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples. In these days you have sought to examine new ways of consolidating and strengthening this privileged relationship.”
The Pope then observed “One of the promising indications of a renewal in the Church’s missionary consciousness in recent decades has been the growing desire of many lay men and women, whether single or married, to cooperate generously in the missio ad gentes. As the Council stressed, the work of evangelisation is a fundamental duty incumbent upon the whole People of God... While some Missionary Societies have had a long history of close collaboration with lay men and women, others have only more recently developed forms of lay association with their apostolate. Given the extent and the importance of the contribution made by these associates to the work of the various Societies, the proper forms of their cooperation should naturally be governed by specific statutes and clear directives respectful of each institute’s proper canonical identity.”.
Benedict XVI express his gratitude to the participants and to all the members of the different Societies of Apostolic Life for their efforts: “Today, as in the past, missionaries continue to leave their families and homes, often at great sacrifice, for the sole purpose of proclaiming the Good News of Christ and serving him in their brothers and sisters. Many of them, also in our time, have heroically confirmed their preaching by the shedding of their blood, and contributed to establishing the Church in distant lands.”. Although the changed circumstances of today have led in many cases to a decrease in the number of young people who are attracted to missionary societies, and a consequent decline in missionary outreach, as Pope John Paul II said many times, “the mission ad gentes is still only beginning, and the Lord is summoning us, all of us, to be committed wholeheartedly to its service” the Holy Father underlined, urging them to, follow faithfully in the footsteps of their founders, and to stir into flame the charisms and apostolic zeal which inherited from them, “confident that Christ will continue to work with you and to confirm your preaching with signs of his presence and power ”. (S.L.) (Agenzia Fides 19/11/2007; righe 33, parole 480)
