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| ADDRESS OF JOHN
PAUL II TO THE DIOCESAN DIRECTORS OF THE PONTIFICAL MISSION SOCIETIES
IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA |
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Friday, 21 February 2003
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
I am pleased to welcome the Diocesan Directors of the Pontifical
Mission Societies in the United States of America on the occasion
of your meeting in Rome. It is my great pleasure to join you today
in inaugurating a new website which promises to open a fresh chapter
in the efforts of your Societies to foster a universal missionary
spirit among the whole People of God.
The growth of the Internet in recent years provides an unprecedented
opportunity for expanding the Church's missionary outreach, since
it has become a primary source of information and communication
for so many of our contemporaries, especially the young. It is my
hope that the new Pontifical Mission Societies website will awaken
in the Catholics of the United States a deeper appreciation of the
Church's universal missionary mandate and a greater awareness of
the rich variety of cultures and peoples in which the Gospel of
Jesus Christ continues to take root in our time. I trust that the
new site will draw many people to a deeper faith in Christ, lead
to an increase of missionary vocations and call forth a greater
commitment to the proclamation of the Gospel ad gentes and the new
evangelization of traditionally Christian countries.
Dear friends, in the wake of the Great Jubilee, the Church is called
to contemplate anew the face of Christ in order to carry out with
greater enthusiasm his command to make disciples of all nations
(cf. Novo Millennio Ineunte, 58). May the work of your Societies
be a true leaven of missionary zeal among the Catholics of the United
States, and yield abundant fruit for the spread of Christ's Kingdom
in the new frontiers now opening up before us. Commending you and
your important apostolate to the prayers of Mary, Mother of the
Church, I cordially impart my Apostolic Blessing as a pledge of
strength and peace in the Lord. |
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