VATICAN - Pope Benedict XVI receives in audience participants at the Annual General Assembly of the Pontifical Mission Societies: “I encourage you to work to help Christians grow in awareness that the spiritual dynamic of baptism involves them in missionary activity gathering them in communion around Christ to participate in his mission”

Vatican City (Fides Service) - This morning in the Sala Clementina in the Vatican the Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI granted an audience to the participants at the Annual General Assembly of the Pontifical Mission Societies. Here is the text of the Pope’s address.
“Your Eminence, beloved Brother Bishops and Brother Priests, dear national Directors of the Pontifical Mission Societies I greet each of you warmly with a special thought for His Eminence Cardinal Crescenzio Sepe, whom I thank for the words addressed to me on your behalf, and for Archbishop Henryk Hoser, President of the Pontifical Mission Societies. Welcome to this meeting which takes place on occasion of the Annual General Assembly of your Superior Council. Your presence testifies to the Church’s missionary commitment on every continent and the “Pontifical” character which distinguishes your association underlines the special tie which binds you to the See of Peter. I know that after intense work of "revision", you have completed the drafting of your new Statute and obtained approval of it. I hope it will help to offer still greater prospects for the work of missionary animation and assistance to the Church to which you are committed.
At your General Assembly you intend to reflect on the missionary mandate which Jesus entrusted to his disciples, and which represents a pastoral urgency felt by all the local Churches, mindful also of what was affirmed by the Second Vatican Council, namely "missionary commitment is essential for the Christian community" (Ad gentes, 2). Since they were founded in the 19th century and placed themselves at the service of evangelisation, the Pontifical Mission Societies have always been aware that missionary activity consists definitively in communicating to all our brothers and sisters the love of God revealed in the plan for salvation. To know and accept this saving Love is in fact fundamental for our lives life - I wrote in the Encyclical Deus caritas est - and it raises important questions about who God is and who we are (cfr n. 2). By means of interventions of effective and generous charity the Mission Societies, Propagation of the Faith, Saint Peter Apostle and Holy Childhood, have spread the Good News and help plant and consolidate Churches in the new territories; the Missionary Union has fostered increased attention of Clergy and Religious for evangelisation. All this has increased the faith, love and missionary enthusiasm of the People of God.
Dear Friends of the Pontifical Mission Societies thanks also to your work of missionary animation in parishes and dioceses, prayer and effective support for the mission have become an integral part of the life of every Christian. Just as the early Church sent “offerings” collected in Macedonia and in Acaia to Jerusalem for the Christians of that Church (cfr Rom 15,25-27), so today a responsible spirit of sharing and communion involves the faithful of every community in providing support for the needs of mission lands and this is an eloquent sign of the catholicity of the Church. Underlining that “as the work of God in human history, mission is not simply an instrument but an event which makes everyone available to the Gospel and the Spirit" (art. 1), your Statute encourages you to work so that Christians may grow in awareness that the spiritual dynamism of baptism involves them in missionary commitment gathering them in communion around Christ to participate in his mission (cfr ibid.).
This intense missionary movement which involves ecclesial communities and individual believers has developed through the years into promising missionary cooperation . To this you bear significant witness because you help nourish everywhere that spirit of universal mission which was the distinctive sign of your birth as Mission Societies and the impulse behind you growth. Continue to render this precious service to ecclesial communities, fostering reciprocal co-operation. Harmony of intention and desired unity in the work of evangelisation increase to the extent in which all activity has as its reference God who is Love and the pierced heart of Christ, love in its most radical form (cfr Deus caritas est, 12). In this way dear friends, your work will never be mere organisational efficiency or connected with some special interest, rather it will always be a revelation of Divine Love. The fact that you come from different countries is a clear demonstration that the Pontifical Mission Societies , " although they are the Societies of the Pope, they belong to all the Bishops and to the entire People of God".[20] " (Cooperatio missionalis, 4).
Dear National Directors to you especially I express my gratitude for all that you do to meet the needs of evangelisation. May your commitment inspire those who benefit from your help to welcome the inestimable gift of salvation and to open their hearts to Christ, the only Saviour. With these sentiments invoking the maternal assistance of Mary Queen of the Apostles I impart a special Apostolic Blessing upon all of you here present and on each of the particular Churches you represent”.

At the beginning of the Audience Cardinal Crescenzio Sepe, Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples who is also President of the Supreme Committee of the Pontifical Mission Societies addressed the Pope as follows :

“Most Holy Father, with great joy I present to Your Holiness our National Directors from 120 countries gathered for the Annual General Assembly of the Pontifical Mission Societies.
On behalf of them all I thank you for granting us this Audience which is the culminating event in the work of our Assembly and strengthens communion with the Chair of Peter the basis of all authentic missionary activity.
The Pontifical Mission Societies for their charisma and for the goals they intend to reach are expressions of that ecclesial communion and charity which render visible and animate the missionary nature of the Church.
The bonds of unity among the churches have always been expressed in mutual exchanging of gifts and effective cooperation. These bonds in fact are lived in the unity of faith proclaimed in the announcement of Jesus Christ, the only Saviour of mankind; faith professed and celebrated in the sacramental life and nourished with concern for the poor; faith motivated and prompted to act by the same charity which moves so many missionaries to give their lives to others even to the point of bloodshed.
We are aware Holy Father that in order to be an expression of the Church’s catholicity our missionary efforts must draw strength from this life-blood of charity. The Church of Christ in fact is not the sum of all the different Particular Churches historically situated, their root is the mystery of universal Church. A sign and sacrament of this is the communion which exists between local Bishops and the Bishop of Rome.
This is why we are proud to belong to both the Pope and to the Bishops and to work both for the particular Churches and the universal Church, urged on by Christ’s love for all men and women. As you say in the Message just addressed to us for the next World Mission Sunday, here lies the secret of the apostolic fecundity of our missionary activity which reaches across frontiers and borders to all peoples and extends to the far ends of the earth.
Holy Father, please bless our commitment”. (S.L.) (Agenzia Fides 8/5/2006 - righe 91; parole 1188)