Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Shi Jia Zhuang (Agenzia Fides) – Although the Year for Priests has concluded, the journey of priestly formation and deepening in the theme of the priesthood in the Catholic world on the Chinese mainland continues. With this objective, "HeBei Faith Press" has published "Letters of John Paul II to Priests for Holy Thursday." The 3,000 copies of the first edition, published last April, have been distributed to all the Chinese priests of all the dioceses on the mainland, arousing great interest and appreciation. The publishing house is now seeking funds to print a second edition of the book, which is part of a pastoral series, to be distributed to about 2,000 seminarians.
The Preface of the book reads: "Pope Benedict XVI declared a Year for Priests from June 19, 2009 to June 19, 2010... The world fixed its gaze once again on its over 400,000 priests. During his pontificate - 1979 to 2005 - almost every year the beloved Pope John Paul II published a Letter to Priests for Holy Thursday ... After meticulous work and with the help of the Catholic community in Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macao, as well as with the full support of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, we have finally been able to publish the 24 Letters to Priests (in addition to the Apostolic Exhortation Pastores Dabo Vobis). Unfortunately, due to the limited time and lack of resources, we could not complete the preparation of the letters from the years 1981, 1993, and 2003. There are also some translations that do not correspond to the language in use on the mainland. However, we thank everyone who contributed to this work in various ways, translators, donors, and friends, invoking God's blessing on them." (NZ) (Agenzia Fides 27/08/2010)
