Pontifical Mission Societies Assembly: Archbishop Sangalli affirms that “missionary conversion” is not an abstract concept

Rome (Fides News Agency) – The “permanent missionary conversion” called for by Pope Leo XIV as an urgent imperative of our time is not a mere declaration of intent or an abstract concept. This is concretely evident in the fact that secularization processes in many countries are also leading to a decline in donations, which makes it necessary for the Pontifical Mission Societies (PMS) to carefully manage and pay greater attention to the "administration of temporal goods" used for apostolic work.
During the final days of the General Assembly, held in Rome from Wednesday, May 27, to Wednesday, June 3, the vitality of the network of the Pontifical Mission Societies became evident in all its concreteness, in the dialogues between the National Directors and the general secretaries of the International Secretariats, and also in the reflections inspired by the speech of Archbishop Samuele Sangalli, Adjunct Secretary of the Dicastery for Evangelization (Section for First Evangelization and New Particular Churches) and head of the Dicastery's Administration.

On the afternoon of Tuesday, June 2, Archbishop Sangalli began offering food for thought in his homily during the Eucharist in the chapel of the Collegio Internazionale San Lorenzo da Brindisi, the residence of the Capuchin Friars Minor, which hosted the PMS Assembly.
Inspired by the reading from the Gospel of Mark (“Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and unto God the things that are God’s”), the Archbishop emphasized how Jesus himself, just days before his Passion, “was challenged even regarding the administration of what we call ‘temporal goods.’” He added, “His response provides a guiding principle: we will be able to render to Caesar, with honesty and transparency, what belongs to Caesar only insofar as we first know how to render to God what belongs to God.”

At the audience for participants of the Assembly of Pontifical Mission Societies on Monday, June 1 (see Fides, 1/6/2026), Pope Leo XIV invited them all “to appreciate the urgency of embracing an ongoing missionary conversion and to look together for ways of being a missionary Church for the healing of our world, so fraught with tensions, conflicts and wars.” A concern, the Bishop of Rome affirmed, in which “the work of the Pontifical Mission Societies remains essential.”

Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, Pro-Prefect of the Missionary Dicastery, also invited all members of the network of Pontifical Mission Societies during the Mass celebrated in St. Peter's Basilica to recognize one another as a "gift and a resource." "Encouraging one another," Archbishop Sangalli added, "even with regard to the highly delicate administration of temporal goods."

In his address to the National Directors of the Pontifical Mission Societies, the Adjunct Secretary of the Missionary Dicastery emphasized: "The processes of secularization in the Western world, together with belonging to a community of faith no longer by tradition but by personal free choice, are leading increasingly, among other things, not only to a drastic decline in the number of practicing faithful, but also to a substantial decrease in offerings" in connection with this paradigm shift.

On the one hand, Archbishop Sangalli continued, "it requires a more prudent and careful allocation of resources." On the other hand, he added, “even from a material standpoint, it compels us to bring to completion that process of self-sufficiency of the young Churches which was initiated canonically with their recognition precisely as local Churches, endowed with an indigenous hierarchy.” This, he said, is a favorable moment to rediscover the true source of that “missionary cooperation” which lies at the origin of the foundation of the four Pontifical Mission Societies.

“The mutual exchange and support in prayer, in apostolic activity, and in the reciprocal sharing of resources,” the Adjunct Secretary of the Missionary Dicastery, explained, “must lead us, on the one hand, to profound transparency and integrity in accounting for the administration of temporal goods; and, on the other hand, to undertake ever more pilot projects aimed at guiding the young Churches, gradually and each according to its own capacities, toward models of self-sustainability through the shared use of resources.”
In this context, Archbishop Sangalli also called for the establishment of “training courses for diocesan finance officers in every nation within the territories entrusted to the Dicastery, working in synergy with the local Episcopal Conferences and the missionary Religious Institutes, which have made themselves available for this work of formation.” (GV) (Fides News Agency, 3/6/2026)

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