Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Rome (Agenzia Fides) - Today, Monday, October 2, the First Regional Gathering of foreign priests who carry out pastoral service in the dioceses of Lazio took place.
The meeting, which is part of the missionary month of October, focused on the theme: "Missionary cooperation in the Lazio region" and saw the participation of more than 200 foreign priests and religious working in all dioceses in the region.
"Priests who leave their Church of origin to carry out pastoral service in our parish communities are not simple stopgaps to compensate for the lack of Italian priests", declared the Bishop of Albano Vincenzo Viva, President of the Commission.
"Non-Italian priests involved in our communities - he explained in a letter addressed to the members of the Lazio Episcopal Conference and the directors of the Diocesan Offices for Missionary Cooperation (Cmd) of the dioceses of Lazio - are bearers of a specific ecclesial culture and experience, which deserve to be valued, and at the same time they need to be supported in their identity and their mission, reviving the motivations for their presence in the Italian dioceses".
The gathering, which took place in the Aula Magna of the Pontifical Urban College of Rome, was promoted by Missio Lazio - Regional Commission for the Evangelization of Peoples and Missionary Cooperation. Monsignor Vincenzo Viva, Bishop of Albano, Monsignor Emilio Nappa, President of the Pontifical Mission Societies, Father Giulio Albanese, Comboni priest, director of Missio Roma and Father Denise Malonda, director of Missio Tivoli participated. (Agenzia Fides, 2/10/2023)
