VATICAN - ANNUAL ASSEMBLY OF THE PONTIFICAL MISSION SOCIETIES OPENS MAY 5: HOW TO MEET THE GROWING NEEDS OF MISSIONARY ACTIVITY?

Vatican City (Fides Service) – On Monday 5 May, with a welcome speech by Cardinal Crescenzio Sepe, Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples, the annual assembly of the Pontifical Mission Societies PMS will open in Rome with 114 National Directors of the PMS from all over the world. This year the Assembly will take place at Pala Cavicchi in Ciampino (Rome).
The first part of the Assembly, 5-7 May is for newly appointed National Directors who will attend a series of talks on the history, theology and spirituality of the Pontifical Mission Societies; the organisation of the four Societies, the work of their respective International Secretariats in Rome and the National Offices all over the world. The Directors will also make a visit to the Propaganda Fide Building in Piazza di Spagna in Rome, which houses the offices of the Vatican’s Missionary Department.
From 8-10 May there will be the Pastoral Session, inaugurated with a conference by Cardinal Crescenzio Sepe, Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples. The work will focus on the activity of national PMS offices and how to give new impulse to missionary animation and increase collection of funds.
From 12 to 16 May the Assembly will listen to reports by the General Secretaries on the activity of the four Pontifical Mission Societies, Propagation of the Faith, St Peter Apostle, Holy Childhood and the Missionary Union and then examine requests coming from missionary territories and assignment of subsidies. This part of the Assembly will open with an address by Archbishop Malcolm Ranjith, President of the Pontifical Mission Societies. The highlight and conclusion of the whole assembly will be an audience with Pope John Paul II. SL (Fides Service 2/5/2003 EM lines 18 Words: 215)