Ciampino (Agenzia Fides) - The Annual General Assembly of the Pontifical Mission Societies (PMS) opens tomorrow, Wednesday, May 31, and its work will continue until June 6. The National Directors of the PMS from all continents, as well as the President, the Secretaries General of the four Pontifical Mission Societies and the person in charge of the Administration will take part.
The works will take place at the Institute Madonna del Carmine "Il Carmelo", located in the municipality of Ciampino, in the metropolitan area of Rome. On Wednesday afternoon, the Assembly will open with a word of welcome and a report by Archbishop Emilio Nappa, Adjunct Secretary of the Dicastery for Evangelization and President of the Pontifical Mission Societies.
Afterwards, the participants in the Assembly will listen to the speech by the Pro-Prefect of the Section for the First Evangelization and the New Particular Churches of the Dicastery for Evangelization, Cardinal Luis Antonio G. Tagle.
On Thursday, June 1, Bishop Marco Mellino, Secretary of the Interdicastery Commission for the Revision of the General Regulations of the Roman Curia, give a lecture entitled "Praedicate Evangelium and the PMS". Subsequently, and until the morning of Friday, June 2, Assembly participants will explore, through group work, continental meetings and plenary sessions, issues related to the New Regulations and the PMS in the light of the Apostolic Constitution Praedicate evangelium "on the Roman Curia and its service to the Church and the world, which entered into force on June 5, 2022. On the afternoon of Friday June 2, the reports of the Council of Finances and the person in charge of the administration, Msgr. Carlo Soldateschi, are scheduled, with the approval of the 2022 budget and the budget forecast for the current year. The evening will end with the screening of a film by the Slovak Direction of the PMS.
On Saturday, June 3, after the Holy Mass celebrated in St. Peter's Basilica, and presided over by Cardinal Tagle, the participants in the Assembly will be received by Pope Francis. In the afternoon, the works will move to the Mater Ecclesiae College of Castel Gandolfo, where the participants of the Assembly will listen to a conference on "Synodality and Mission" by the priest and missiologist Andrew Recepciòn.
On Sunday, June 4, the participants in the Assembly will go on pilgrimage to the Sanctuary of Greccio.
On Monday, June 5, the works will resume with speeches by Father Tadeusz Nowak, OMI, Secretary General of the Pontifical Society for the Propagation of the Faith, Sister Roberta Tremarelli, AMSS, Secretary General of the Pontifical Society of Missionary Childhood and Father Guy Bognon, PSS, Secretary General of the Pontifical Society of St. Peter the Apostle, who will present the report of the past year and the budget forecast of the respective Societies. Each report will be followed by moments of discussion and clarification on the contents presented.
On Tuesday, June 6, Father Din Anh Nhue Nguyen OFM Conv, Secretary General of the Pontifical Missionary Union and Director of the International Center for Missionary Animation, will close the space dedicated to the activities of the International Secretariats. During the same morning, reports will be presented by Mr. Gianni Valente, Director of Fides Agency and of some members of the PMS Committee for Communication and Fundraising, coordinated by Father Yoland Ouellet OMI, Director of the PMS of French-speaking Canada.
In the afternoon of June 6, the final works of the Assembly and the closing speech of the President of the PMS, Archbishop Emilio Nappa, are scheduled.
(Agenzia Fides, 30/5/2023)