Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Rome (Agenzia Fides) - 'Missionary Seed' is the name of the representation of the children of the Missionary Childhood of Slovakia, who visited the International Secretariat of the Pontifical Society of the Holy Childhood and Fides Agency. The occasion was the initiative "Children meet the Pope", in which the delegation took part on the afternoon of November 6th with the Holy Father, together with six thousand people of the same age from a total of 84 countries. Liliana, Paulína, Bianka, Anton, Tomáš, Annamária, Karolína and Matej, who come from the small village of Zazriva and are between 10 and 14 years old, expressed their gratitude for the upcoming meeting with Pope Francis. "It was a great feeling for each of them to know that they will take part in this event," Martin Farbák, who accompanied the group together with Lucia Fedorová, told Fides. "The emotions increased when we got on the plane to travel to Rome, since none of them had ever flown before".
"The children and young people from the village of Zazriva are the 114th group of the 'Missionary Seed' initiative of Saint Thérèse of Lisieux, which is part of the project we launched on May 22, 2022 and which now number more than 500 missionary groups throughout Slovakia," they explained. Some of the children shared what they would like to say to Pope Francis. Bianka, for example, wants to help create a better world and solve the environmental crisis, also through information and exchange with the other children. Karolína said that they would all try together to do their best to change the state of the planet and are very happy to have been chosen among the 500 missionary groups and to have met Fides Agency editorial team. Annamária added that they continue to pray in a chain with other children for the sick, the poor and all those in need around the world. 'Prayer keeps us all connected', she said.
"The Society of the Holy Childhood has a long history in our country", concluded Farbák. "It existed since the 1930s together with the Pontifical Mission Societies in Slovakia. Unfortunately, the Pontifical Missionary Societies had to be closed after 1948 with the beginning of communism in Czechoslovakia. After the 1989 revolution, Cardinal Jozef Tomko, then Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, refounded the Pontifical Mission Societies in Slovakia together with the Society of the Holy Childhood, and we have never stopped since then". (AP) (Agenzia Fides, 6/11/2023)
