AGENZIA FIDES

congregation

p.m.s.

urban college

urban web site

fides

holy see

Gospel

Saints

Papal Teaching

Congregation

Pontifical Mission Societies

Urban University

Mission texts

Animation

Statistics

From the Holy See

Testimonies

Martyrology

Jubilee 2000

Church life

Missionaries

Religious institutes

Movements & Associations

Catholic universities

Culture

History

Art

Cinema / Photo

Radio & tv

Music

Poetry

Health

Technology

Geography

News 360°

Dossier

In-depth study

Interviews

Stories

Book review

Children’s corner

1982 - the principle of shared-responsibility

…This year, my message takes its cue from a particularly significant event: the 25th anniversary of Fidei donum, Encyclical of my venerable predecessor, Pius XII (cf. AAS 49 /1957/ 225-248) .The Encyclical marked the beginning of a new direction in the area of missionary pastoral activity…

Venerable Brothers and Beloved Sons and Daughters of the Church!
 	As the next World Mission Day approaches, I would like to address my personal message to all of you, as I do every year, a message which would serve as a communal reflection on the missionary dimension that belongs to the very essence of the Church, Mystical Body of Christ and People of God and on the concomitant commitment that involves all of us, so that the Gospel of Jesus may be preached and accepted in the whole world.
This year, my message takes its cue from a particularly significant event: the 25th anniversary of Fidei donum, Encyclical of my venerable predecessor, Pius XII (cf. AAS 49 /1957/ 225-248) .The Encyclical marked the beginning of a new direction in the area of missionary pastoral activity, which then received from the Second Vatican Council those guidelines for the course, along which the Church-aware of her own intrinsic nature and mission, and always willing to study the signs of the times-continues her journey today, with the intention of serving man and of leading him to salvation by disclosing to him "the infinite treasures of Christ" (Eph. 3,8). 
This important document, while concentrating attention specifically on Africa, contains clear directives that are valid for the missionary activity of the Church on all the continents of the earth. Its original contribution, as noted, is reflected especially in the Conciliar Decree Ad Gentes, and even more recently in the "Notae directivae" postquam Apostoli of the Sacred Congregation for the Clergy (cf. AAS 72 /1980/, 343-364) .
1. Bishops are Responsible for the Evangelisation of the world
The Encyclical Fidei donum solemnly recalls, first of all, the principle of the co-responsibility of bishops in the evangelisation of the world, and this, by reason of their belonging to the Episcopal College.  It is to them, in fact, the successors of the Apostles, that Christ confided and confides, before anyone else, the common mandate to proclaim and propagate the Good News even to the ends of the earth. They therefore, though being pastors of single parts of the flock, are and must feel themselves jointly responsible, in union with the Vicar of Christ, for the journeying and the missionary obligation of the entire Church. Consequently, they will be profoundly solicitous toward "those parts of the world where the Word of God has not yet been proclaimed, or where, chiefly because of the small number of priests, the faithful are in danger of departing from the precepts of the Christian life and even of losing the faith itself" (Christus Dominus, 6) .  
It is this basic principle, greatly deepened and developed by the Council (cf. Lumen Gentium, 23-24; Ad Gentes, 38) , that I desire to emphasise once again today; both, in order to present and make evident its actuality, as well as to exhort all my Venerable Brothers in the Episcopate to be ever more aware of their exalted responsibility, remembering that they "are consecrated not just for some one diocese, but for the salvation of the entire world" (Ad Gentes, 38) .  
This principle will be more clearly understood if the mutual and close relationship between the particular Churches and the Universal Church is taken into consideration. If in fact, "the one, holy, Catholic and apostolic Church of Christ is truly present and operative" (Christus Dominus, 11) in every particular Church which has its pivot and its foundation in its bishop, it follows, that in its concrete surroundings, the particular Church must promote all the activity that is common to the Universal Church (cf. postquam Apostoli, 13-14: loc. cit. pp. 352-354) .
Every diocese, therefore, is called to become ever more deeply aware of this universal dimension; that is, to discover or re-discover its own missionary nature, extending "the range of its charity to the ends of the earth, and devoting to those far off, a concern similar to that which it bestows on those who are its own members" (Ad Gentes, 37).
Consequently, every Bishop, the head and the guide of the local Church, will have to dedicate his energies in this respect; that is, he will have to do the utmost to impress a vigorous missionary impulse on his diocese. To him, in the first place, belongs the obligation to create among the faithful a Catholic mentality-in the full meaning of the word-open to the necessities of the Universal Church. It is his obligation to sensitise the People of God to the indispensable obligation of cooperation under its various forms; to promote the opportune initiatives of sustaining and of offering spiritual and material assistance to the missions, strengthening the already-existing structures or creating new ones; promoting in a very special manner priestly and religious vocations, and assisting the priests at the same time to acquire a deeper awareness of the typically apostolic dimension of the priestly ministry (cf. Ad Gentes, 38).

2. The Dearth of Apostles: Primary Urgency of Mission 
The concrete form of cooperation by which the Bishops can actualise their co-responsibility in the work of evangelisation is by sending diocesan priests to the missions, because one of the most urgent needs of many Churches today is specifically the disturbing dearth of apostles and ministers of the Gospel.
And this is the great novelty to which Fidei donum has lent its name. A novelty that has surmounted the territorial dimension of the priestly service in order to destine it for the entire Church as the Council emphasises: "The spiritual gift which priests received at their ordination prepares them not for any limited and narrow mission but for the widest scope of the universal mission of salvation 'even to the very ends of the earth' (Acts 1,8) .For every priestly ministry shares in the universality of the mission entrusted by Christ to his apostles" (Presbyterorum Ordinis, 10) .
Because one of the most serious obstacles to the spread of the message of Christ is specifically the lack of "labourers in the Lord's vine-yard", I would like to use this occasion to exhort all bishops, in their work of assisting and promoting the work of evangelisation, to be generous in sending their own priests into those regions that have the most urgent need of them, even if their own diocese does not have sufficient clergy.
Quoting Saint Paul, Pope Pius XII in his Encyclical says, "For I do not mean that the relief of others should become your burden, but that there should be equality"  (2 Cor 8, 13). Dioceses thus tried should not be deaf to the appeal of distant missions, however. The widow's mite was given as an example by our Lord, and the generosity of one poor diocese for others even poorer could not impoverish it. God will not let Himself be outdone in generosity" (Fidei donum: p. 244; cf. also postquam Apostoli, no.10: p. 350) .  But besides being a call to priests, Fidei donum directly calls the laity, too, whose service along with priests and religious in the missions is today more than ever recognised as precious and indispensable (cf. Ad Gentes, 41) . That has created the premises for the experience of that phenomenon typical of our time, which I greatly desire to recommend, namely, the International Christian Voluntary Service (cf. Discourse to the Federation of Christian Organisations of Inter-national Voluntary Service, January 23, 1981: Teachings of John Paul II, IV, 1 / 1 98 1 / , pp .1 9 6 -1 99 ) .

3. Development of the Missionary Awareness of the Local Churches 
The introduction of these forms of cooperation, as well as the forceful call to the principle of the co-responsibility of the Episcopal College in the evangelisation of the world, have had the incontestable merit of giving rise to the missionary renewal of the Church, the premises of which already appear in the farsighted affirmation of Pius XII: "If in other times the life of the Church, in its visible aspect, extended its force-especially in those countries of old Europe from which she spread-toward what could then be called the limits of the world, today on the contrary she presents herself as an exchange of life and energy between all the members of the Mystical Body of Christ upon earth" (Fidei donum p. 235) .  
In the first place, it has resulted in an ever deeper understanding of the basic idea-later more amply developed and affirmed by the Council-of the irreplaceable obligation of every local Church to dedicate itself directly, according to its own possibilities in the work of evangelisation. This has led to an undeniable deepening of the missionary awareness of the local Churches, which have been solicited to surmount the mentality and the practice of "delegating", which by and large had characterised their attitude toward missionary obligation.  
Consequently, there is evident in these Churches a definite thrust to become ever more the primary subjects of missionary activity-misionarieta"(cf. Ad Gentes, 20) , responsible in the first person for the mission (cf. Ibid., 36-37) .I was able to ascertain this personally on my journeys in Africa, Latin America and Asia.  In addition to having developed this role of "subject of missionary activity-"missionarieta"--, it has urged the particular Churches to have contact with their sister Churches, spread out in the world, in that "communion" -"cooperation", which is "so necessary today for carrying out the work of evangelisation" (ibid, 38) , and which is one of the most current realities of mission, in an interchange 0f values and of experiences, that allows the individual Churches to derive the benefits of the gifts that the Spirit of the Lord is disseminating everywhere (cf. ibid, 20) .
Therefore, no closing in on itself on the part of the particular Churches, no isolationism or egoistic turning in on self within the exclusive and limited sphere of its own problems; for otherwise, the vital thrust would lose its vigour and inevitably lead to a pernicious impoverishment of the entire spiritual life (cf. Evangelii nuntiandi, 64; Postquam Apostoli, 14: p. 353) .

4.	Missionary Cooperation, Reciprocal Sharing of Energies and Experiences 
It is thus that the new concept of cooperation is delineated, no longer understood as a "one-way street", that of assistance to the younger Churches by the Churches of more ancient foundation; but rather, that reciprocal and fruitful exchange of energies and of goods, within the sphere of a fraternal communion among sister Churches, surmounting the dualism of "rich Churches" -"poor Churches", as if there existed two distinct categories: Churches that merely "give" and Churches that merely "receive". In reality, a true reciprocity exists, inasmuch as the poverty of the Church which receives aid renders richer the Church that deprives itself by giving.
Mission thus becomes not only generous assistance of the "rich" Churches to the "poor" Churches, but grace for every Church, a condition of renewal, the fundamental law of life (cf. Ad Gentes, 37; Postquam Apostoli, 14-15; p. 353 ff) .
It is necessary, however, to underline the fact that the appeal to the particular Churches to send priests and laity does not mean to signify that the traditional forms and strengths of missionary cooperation are superfluous, those forms that continue to carry the major burden of evangelisation. The new form is a novelty which was not meant as a substitute or an alternative, but as a complementary form, as anew richness, awakened by the spirit, joining itself to the traditional forces.
After twenty-five years of such experience, which has led to a notable consistency and stability, some signs of tiredness are becoming apparent. This is due in part to the decrease in the number of vocations, and in part to the urgency of facing up to the crisis with which many Christian communities of ancient tradition are struggling. In the face of the phenomenon of de-Christianisation, the temptation may well arise to turn in on oneself, to close oneself in upon one's own problems, and to consume the missionary force and energy within oneself.  Therefore, a vigorous new missionary thrust is necessary, rooted in the most profound inspiration that comes to the Church directly from the Divine Master (cf. Evangelii nuntiandi, 50) , dictated by a confident hope and sustained by the universal dedication of the particular Churches and of all Christians.

4. The Primary Role of the Pontifical Missionary Societies 
In programming this vigorous new missionary thrust, the indispensable factor for the very life and the growth of the local Churches and of the whole Church, I desire, finally, to recommend recourse to that irreplaceable instrument of missionary cooperation, so strongly recommended by my predecessors, that of the Pontifical Missionary Societies, to which as Ad Gentes (no.38) declares, "must be given pride of place", and which it is extremely opportune to strengthen and develop in all dioceses. 
World Mission Day recalls to us particularly the Pontifical Society for the Propagation of the Faith, to which belongs the merit of having proposed to His Holiness, Pope Pius XI, in 1926, the happy initiative of setting this annual day in favour of the missionary activity of the Church, and which is charged with promoting and organising it, together with the other Pontifical Societies, under the direction of the respective bishops.
It is also necessary to give the required impulse to the Pontifical Missionary Union of Clergy, whose principal task is to animate and  sensitise all the sectors of the People of God to the urgency of the !1 missionary problem through the capillary network of priests and religious men and women. On the proper development of such an Association will depend in a  large measure the degree of the "missionary consciousness" of the entire local Church; and in a special way, the missionary awareness of  priests, to which the Union is primarily directed, so that these will r - be naturally urged-in ever stronger and more profound recognition of the intrinsic apostolic character of their priesthood-to surpass the boundaries of their own dioceses, not only spiritually but also materially, in order to offer their service even to the most distant Churches of the earth, particularly there, where the cry for help rises , most insistently.
At the conclusion of this message, I desire to express my gratitude to all those-bishops, priests, religious men and women, and lay-men-who often at the cost of unimaginable labours and sacrifices spend their best energies and their whole life "in the forefront of activity", and also to those "in the background", in order to spread the message of salvation even to the ends of the world, so that the name of Christ the Redeemer may be known and glorified by all. To all of you, Venerable Brothers and Beloved Sons and Daughters of the Church, I GRACIOUSLY IMPART MY PATERNAL APOSTOLIC BLESSING, as a pledge of copious, heavenly favours and as a sign of my constant benevolence.
From the Vatican : the 30th of May, Solemnity of Pentecost, 1982 
the fourth of my Pontificate.
Joannes Paulus PP. II 1

1979	1980	1981	1982	1983	1984	1985	1986
1987	1988	1989	1990	1991	1992	1993	1994
1995	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002

Index

Palazzo "de Propaganda Fide" - 00120 - Città del Vaticano Tel. +39-06-69880115 - Fax. +39-06-69880107 - e-mail: fides@fides.va © AGENZIA FIDES