Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Vatican City (Fides Service) – “I am happy to welcome you to this special audience on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the foundation of your Secular Institute…My greeting goes to those present and to all your members in many countries of Europe, Africa and Latin America, with an affectionate thought for the sick and the elderly and in particular for the youth, in increasing numbers, who are attracted by the missionary charisma of your spiritual family”. With the words Pope John Paul II welcomed members of the Secular Institute “ Missionary Priests of the Regality of Christ on July 8 on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the foundation of the Institute by Father Agostino Gemelli.
The anniversary is an opportunity to thanked the Lord, said the Pope and he continued: “and to start out with new missionary impulse to proclaim the Gospel to the men and women of the third millennium”. The Holy Father encouraged the priests to “be in constant contact with Christ in prayer” to cultivate ever deeper communion with their Bishop and with the college of presbyters in their respective dioceses, and he called on them to “aim first of all for holiness as a priority in your life, so that you may in turn be witnesses and teachers of Gospel perfection”. Lastly Pope John Paul II encouraged the Missionaries of the Regality of Christ with these words: “Be missionaries full of zeal and generous dedication to your brothers and sisters. May your desire to evangelise lead you to an apostolate which know no boundaries”. SL (Fides Service 9/7/2003 EM lines 18Words: 262)
