Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Vatican (Agenzia Fides) - About thirty diocesan directors of the Pontifical Mission Societies (PMS), mostly from the African continent, are participating in the missionary formation course that opened yesterday afternoon in Rome, at the International Center of Missionary Animation (CIAM).
The Course, organized by the Pontifical Missionary Union (PMU) is coordinated by Father Dinh Anh Nhue Nguyen OFM Conv, General Secretary of PMU, assisted by Father Anthony Chantry, National Director PMS Missio England & Wales and European Continental Coordinator.
This morning, Tuesday, February 20, the delegation of diocesan directors who are attending the scheduled course until next Friday, visited the Pontifical Mission Societies and the Dicastery for Evangelization (Section for the First Evangelization and New Particular Churches). The "five days" aim to offer content that can be useful in the work of animation, formation and missionary cooperation. The program includes every morning, after the Eucharistic celebration and Lauds, a visit to significant places for the history and activity of the Missionary Dicastery and for the apostolic work of the Church. In particular, tomorrow they will participate in the general audience with Pope Francis and visit St. Peter's Basilica, on Thursday they will visit the Urban College, the Pontifical Urbaniana University and the Propaganda Fide Historical Archive, and on Friday they will visit the College Saint Peter.
The afternoons are reserved for conferences and group work sessions. On the afternoon of Monday, February 19, the Secretary General of PMU began the course with a welcome speech aimed at summarizing the history, mission and charisma of the Pontifical Mission Societies.
Today and tomorrow the conferences will be entrusted respectively to Father Tadeusz Nowak, General Secretary of the Pontifical Society for the Propagation of the Faith, and Sister Roberta Tremarelli, General Secretary of the Pontifical Society of Missionary Childhood, followed by the reflections of Father Anthony Chantry on the future of the Missio ad gentes from the point of view of those who "work in the field", divided into two days. On Thursday afternoon, after the conference by Father Guy Bognon SSS, General Secretary of the Pontifical Society of Saint Peter the Apostle, a speech by Monsignor Samuele Sangalli, undersecretary of the Dicastery for Evangelization (Section for the First Evangelization and New Particular Churches) is planned on the meaning of the mission today and the Service of the Dicastery for Evangelization. Father Dinh Anh Nhue Nguyen will close the course with a brief speech on the Pope's messages for the World Mission Days of 2022, 2023 and 2024. On Friday, the course will conclude with the speech of the General Secretary of PMU, followed by the working group and debate session and, finally, the conclusions. (EG) (Agenzia Fides, 20/2/2024)
