It is with pleasure that I extend a cordial greeting and warm welcome to you all, also on behalf of the Supreme Committee and of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples.
My sincere good wishes to those who have been appointed this year. I do not know their exact number, but from the Decrees I have signed, I believe that there are very many of you. I congratulate you also for the meeting which Fr. Galbiati organised for these new National Directors and which was held over the last few days. In reality, if the task of a PMS National Director is stimulating and full of satisfaction, it is equally delicate and important for the entire missionary life of individual particular Churches and for the Universal Church.
And it is precisely to this task that I wish to draw your attention today.
If it is true that the whole Church and, consequently, every member of the People of God must feel the mission to announce Jesus Christ as a fundamental part of his or her Christian life, it is equally true that the National Directors of the PMS are called to play a leading role in this work of missionary animation and cooperation.
This task of animation, which the Church conferred on you through a special mandate, comes from Christ the Lord. From Jesus’ commandment to go into the whole world and preach the Gospel to every creature comes the Church’s commitment to spread the faith and salvation which comes from Christ. Consequently, Vatican II writes: «the mission of the Church is carried out by means of that activity through which, in obedience to Christ’s command and moved by the grace and love of the Holy Spirit, the Church makes herself fully present to all men and peoples in order to lead them to the faith, freedom and peace of Christ by the example of its life and teaching, by the sacraments and other means of grace. Its aim is to open up for all men a free and sure path to full participation in the mystery of Christ» (AG 5).
This, dear National Directors, is your programme as mission animators. Your appointment is not an honorary title or a form of semi-retirement, nor is it a marginal commitment compared to the many other pastoral duties that the Church usually entrusts. In reality, your task places you at the centre of the Church’s life and your responsibility is great before your particular Churches and before the universal Church.
If it is true, as the Holy Father writes, that in recent times missionary activity appears to be waning, then we all need to take courage and enthusiasm to change this tendency which has caused so much harm above all to mission lands.
The missionary dimension, which is part of the very nature of the Church, is a reality that remains and will remain so long as the Church exists, to the end of time. Therefore our task of missionary animation is relevant and urgent today, in view of the great challenges that await us at the beginning of this third millennium of the Christian era. Again the Council declares: «So that each and every one of the Christian faithful might be well acquainted with the present state of the Church in the world... information regarding the missions should be published so as to make them feel they have a part to play in missionary activity, and make them open their hearts to the immense and deep needs of men, and come to their assistance» (AG 36).
Therefore, the main purpose of your presence here in Rome is to verify and deepen your commitment for missionary animation. On the other hand, the birth in the Church of the particular charismatic Societies in aid of Missions, which the Pope wished to make his own by declaring them «Pontifical», must be attributed above all to the profound sentiment of chosen souls, to the Founders of these same Societies. They felt very strongly that it was necessary to awaken and rouse all the Christian faithful to the essential duty of Mission. In other words, the PMS were born for the Missionary Animation of the People of God, and this is their most important task in the Church. Consequently this is also the first and most important duty of those who represent and direct them.
Missionary animation is a difficult reality to define, since it includes a multiplicity of ideas, sentiments and actions that are difficult to count numerically and that cannot be given a simple definition. In fact it is as vast as the Faith, it is as sublime as the Grace on which it depends, and it has its roots (as the name itself signifies) in the «anima» or «soul». It is like the soul in the body, the prime reason for the missionary action it provokes and supports in its development. Indeed, without this missionary soul there can be no missionary life and therefore there can be no Mission which gives life and saves. «Apart from me you can do nothing» (Jn 15:5). Although you work in your local Churches, through your priestly charism and through your call to the office of National Directors of the PMS, you are authentic missionaries. Like every missionary you work under the action of the Spirit and you are open to a personal and community spirituality of animation, which obliges you to «a life of complete docility to the Spirit. It commits us to being moulded from within by the Spirit, so that we may become ever more like Christ. It is not possible to bear witness to Christ without reflecting his image, which is made alive in us by grace and the power of the Spirit. This docility then commits us to receive the gifts of fortitude and discernment, which are essential elements of missionary spirituality» (RM 87).
In fact animation means communicating life and spirit. Therefore missionary animation is a pastoral activity whose aim is to make individuals, institutions and Christian communities missionary, in a word, all the Particular Churches which, with the Pope, form the Universal Church. The Council teaches us that the vitality and maturity of a Christian community is manifested in the universal missionary spirit and responsibility of each particular Church, which makes its own «contribution to the good of the whole Church» (AG 6). The same Council again reminds us that «in virtue of this catholicity each part contributes its own gifts to other parts and to the whole Church, so that the whole and each of the parts are strengthened by the common sharing of all things and by the common effort to attain to fullness in unity» (LG 13). Our Holy Father John Paul II reminds us, in his Missionary Encyclical Redemptoris Missio, that «sharing in the universal mission [...] is not limited to certain specific activities, but is the sign of maturity in faith and of a Christian life that bears fruit» (RM 77). So, dear National Directors, you can understand fully the reasons for this Assembly as well as its loftier purposes and, filled with a greater spirit of faith and love, invoke the Spirit who must animate it.
What the Pope teaches us in the above-cited missionary Encyclical is not how much every Church, through your service, has been able to contribute with financial funds to world-wide missionary activity, but how much you have been able to offer in terms of animation and prayers for the missions. In fact the extent and value of your work is not quantifiable only from a monetary viewpoint... In true reality, which is the Christian reality, we are all implicated and in this perspective we are all equal. Those of you who have been able to offer more are the same as those who have given less, provided they have all offered the same spirit of dedication in prayer, works and sacrifices. In other words, in that we have carried out the same missionary animation. In fact what matters most is that, through you, «individual believers extend the reach of their charity and show concern for those both far and near. They pray for the missions and missionary vocations. They help missionaries and follow their work with interest. And when missionaries return, they welcome them with the same joy with which the first Christian communities heard from the apostles the marvellous things which God had wrought through their preaching (cf. Acts 14:27)» (RM 47). In this regard, I must express my satisfaction and congratulations to those of you who have informed me of the many important initiatives undertaken in your respective countries to carry out this missionary animation. I congratulate you also for the initiative undertaken to create a «task-force», within your Superior Council, for the purpose of planning and realising pastoral projects, like the one undertaken in Spain, for example, on the occasion of the Pope’s Visit a few days ago, aimed at arousing ever greater sensitivity for missionary animation.
It is, therefore, my heartfelt desire that, when you come to Rome every year for your «exchange of gifts», you may have, as a principal commitment, the opportunity to exchange above all your «missionary spirit» with reciprocal animation at the service of God and his Church «in Mission». Another equally important point is the «promotion of missionary vocations», which are the principal aim of all the PMS’ activities, and particularly of the PMU. This is what the Pope says on this matter: «Promoting such vocations is at the heart of missionary cooperation [...]. I wish to call to mind and to recommend this concern for missionary vocations. Conscious of the overall responsibility of Christians to contribute to missionary activity and to the development of poorer peoples, we must ask ourselves how it is that in some countries, while monetary contributions are on the increase, missionary vocations, which are the real measure of self-giving to one's brothers and sisters, are in danger of disappearing» (RM 79). It would be only right and opportune at this meeting, in examining the «Reports of the National Directors», who are also heads of the National Secretariat of the PMU, to discuss this important issue and take an account of the vocations to the missions that God arouses every year in your Churches, also through your missionary animation. I think that, in this case, the contributions of some Churches, whose monetary offerings are greater, would be balanced and perhaps surpassed by the contributions of other Churches poor in funds, but rich in vocations for the Mission.
I hope that these reflections of mine on your fundamental duty of Missionary Animation, so necessary in all its forms, may be also in this General Assembly foremost in your thoughts and concerns. The commitment for missionary animation also arouses the possibility of solving the grave problem of material cooperation among Churches. In fact the more the faithful are animated spiritually, the more willing they are to give their own resources for a cause that is so noble and necessary for the life of the Church.
While I leave it to the President and the Secretaries General to explain and seek suitable remedies, I feel I ought to mention some particular issues. [...]

1. International missionary congresses
As you know, next November CAM II, the American Missionary Congress, will be held in Guatemala, with the participation of all the American nations, including the United States and Canada. It is an event of exceptional importance for missionary animation, as is demonstrated by the National Congresses that are being held in many nations in preparation for the continental Congress.
I feel such Congresses should be held also in the other continents. In this connection, appropriate agreements have already been reached with the Bishops of Asia; also those of Africa, Europe and Oceania will be contacted soon.
None of you can fail to realise the importance of these events. I am sure that you will give your maximum collaboration if and when these initiatives can be put into practice, taken in the spirit of a strengthening of missionary animation.

2. Aid for China and for Fidei Donum Priests
These are two projects that the Congregation is pursuing with several organisms and particularly with the Italian National Office.
With regard to China (but also Vietnam), you know the particular situation in which it finds itself. I cannot go too much into details. It suffices to say that this nation has constant and urgent need of help. There are already other organisations that are giving their own contributions. But we too, as a Dicastery, cannot ignore the many appeals that reach us almost every day. With the help of God, we hope to respond, insofar as we can, to these requests so that this Church, which is going through grave difficulties to preserve the faith, will avoid the danger of being allowed to die.
With regard to Fidei Donum priests, this is a recent emergency, due to the fact that some Bishops of mission lands are willing to send priests to other nations that are unable to support them financially. After obtaining the agreement between the Bishops of both places, the Congregation, which acts as an intermediary, undertakes to support these priests financially.

3. Distribution of missionary rosaries
On the occasion of the Year of the Rosary and with the intention of fostering both missionary animation and missionary cooperation, Rosaries will be distributed also on Mission Sunday, together with the words of the Pope who, in the Message sent to commemorate the 160th anniversary of the foundation of the Society of the Holy Childhood, gave a brief explanation of the decades, which he dedicated to each of the five continents.
For the time being, this initiative will be carried out in Italy. As soon as they are ready, I will send each one of you a certain number of these rosaries and the booklet. Each of you can adopt this or other initiatives in your own nation.
I have finished. Although I cannot be with you in these days of your work, even though there will be several opportunities for us to meet - for example for the Papal Audience - I wish to assure you of my prayers.
May Christ, the One sent by the Father, be always the only Master of your missionary activity and may Mary, the Mother of Missions, help you and protect you with her motherly love.