Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Vatican City (Fides Service) - “You, in particular, are "tireless operators of God’s mercy and peace "... In these tumultuous times for humanity the Pontifical Mission Societies, which are at the service of the Church in the world, represent a reliable reference for those in search of the truth which saves. To these in fact by proclaiming Christ you indicate the Way to salvation.” This was how Pope John Paul II welcomed the participants at this year’s annual general assembly of the Pontifical Mission Societies whom he received in audience this morning, 11 April in the Sala Clementina in the Apostolic Palace in the Vatican.
“The message you offer is one of love and hope” the Pope told the National Directors of the Pontifical Mission Societies from all over the world who were accompanied by Cardinal Crescenzio Sepe, Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples. “The hope, of which you are heralds, is born of the death and resurrection of Christ. This is why you must be especially concerned for peoples where suffering is greater and need more acute: the peoples of the so-called third world.” The Pope went on to say that each of the national directors are “like Simon of Cyrene who helps the Saviour carry the Cross in every person suffering and dying. You are, to all effect, authentic missionaries in a globalised world in which suffering because of Truth and Justice passes beyond every national border.”
“Be announcers of the Resurrection and of Life as were your founders. You, with the whole Church, have the task of proclaiming the Risen Lord” the Pope said, and he added: “I am very happy to know that you are in the process of revising your Statutes. This shows that you are determined to continue to carry out your mission of "mercy and peace". May the Spirit of the Risen Lord show you, as he did the Apostles, His will in finding new paths of missionary cooperation to carry the Truth, Justice and Peace of the Gospel to all the men and women of our day.”
Lastly the Pope recalled that the aim of the general assembly of the Pontifical Mission Societies is “none other that to discern the paths of the Lord for renewed mission in a constantly changing world” and he encouraged them “to collaborate, as you already do, with the Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples, in the continual search for "new paths" for the Gospel. Missionary animation and cooperation are, all told, your reason for existing and the only goal of your tireless "concern for all the Churches", in view of the salvation of the world.”
Presenting the participants to the Pope, Cardinal Sepe said the Pontifical Mission Societies are at the “service of that missionary Church which still today, and I would say above all today, needs to be deeply loved, joyously animated with prayer and courageously sustained with works of charity and solidarity”. The Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelisation of thanked the Holy Father for his Message for World Mission Day 2004, in which the Pope says that the Eucharist is “source of all authentic missionary activity and the basis on which to build effective charitable activity for the Church in mission territories ”. (S.L.) (Agenzia Fides 11/5/2004; Righe 38; Parole 551)
