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1989 - In the spirit and grace of Pentecost

…The celebration of this Day, dedicated to prayer, catechesis and to the collection of funds to help the missions, reminds the whole Church of the duty to go out to all the world to announce the Gospel. May this recurrence bring to the entire People of God, pastors and faithful, a renewed effusion of the Holy Spirit, who is the Spirit of the mission, the one who must now continue the work of salvation, rooted in the sacrifice of the Cross…

Beloved Brothers and Sisters!
At Pentecost the Church's mission began. The proclamation of the Risen Lord, made by the Apostles to the crowds of pilgrims who had gathered in Jerusalem, was heard and welcomed in the variety of languages and cultures which they represented, thus anticipating in a sense the universality of the new People of God. It is in the spirit and in the grace of Pentecost, ever fruitful source of the evangelising and missionary vocation of the Church, that I address  to you this message for the annual World Mission Day.  
The celebration of this Day, dedicated to prayer, catechesis  and to the collection of funds to help the missions, reminds the whole Church of the duty to go out to all the world to announce the Gospel. May this recurrence bring to the entire People of God, pastors and faithful, a renewed effusion of the Holy Spirit, who is the Spirit of the mission, the one who must now continue the work of salvation, rooted in the sacrifice of the Cross. Jesus entrusted it to the Church; but "the Holy Spirit remains the transcendent principal agent of the accomplishment of this work. in the human spirit and in the history of the world" (Dominum et Vivificantem,42)

1. Local Clergy - The hope of the missionary Church
It has pleased God, however, ,-recalls the Second Vatican Council (cf. Lumen Gentium, 9)- to make men holy and save them not merely as individuals without any mutual bonds,. but by making them into a single people: a messianic people which has Christ as its head and is united in the Church .This exists in local communities, which are entrusted to the care and guidance of their own pastors, who exercise, within the limits of their authority, the function of Christ as Shepherd and Head (cf. Lumen Gentium 28). Their authority and mission to announce the Gospel, to sanctify, and govern the people of God.
The announcement of the Gospel by the Apostles after Pentecost, gave rise to communities of baptised to which they assigned leaders who would guarantee the unity and the formation in the faith of each single member, the celebration of the Eucharist, the communion with the Apostles and the other Christian communities. That which the Apostles did at the start of the diffusion of the Church in the world, continues today through missionary evangelisation: in fact "if the Church is to be planted and the Christian community grow, various ministries are needed. These are raised up by divine vocation from the midst of the faithful, and are to. be carefully fostered and cultivated; by. all. Among these are the offices of priests, deacons and catechists" (Ad Gentes 15 ).
In this message I wish to stress especially the necessity and value of the presence of native Clergy in the young Christ and communities. The story of the formation and growth of local Clergy marks the development of missionary evangelisation. The Popes have always been particularly concerned, given their responsibility as Pastors of the universal Church, that the new communities born in mission countries should be supplied as well as with missionaries also, as soon as possible, with local Priests and local Bishops This was promoted especially by the popes of this century, beginning with Benedict XV who in the Maximum illud (of which we celebrate the 60th anniversary of publication) also said: "He who is in charge of the Mission must be primarily concerned for a good formation of the indigenous Clergy, on which rest  the greatest hopes of the new Christian communities" (n.7).
The flourishing of native Clergy is the reward of the missionaries themselves who, with, tenacious patience and perseverance, at times even martyrdom, have laboured and suffered to form the new Christian communities, seeking to cause within the families, the budding of vocations to the priesthood, and to the religious and missionary life. They are now happy to work in communion with, and become collaborators of  the local Priests and Bishops, well aware that "the common cause of God's Kingdom associates both ranks of evangelical messengers closely. together ..such collaboration is necessary and most. certainly fruitful...a harmonious co-ordination which should be the expression of ecclesial communion". (Paul VI, Mass for World Mission Day , 1973).
With the Second Vatican Council a new season in the fascinating history of missionary activity was opened. The fact that the Church is by nature, missionary and that every particular Church is called to reproduce in itself the same image of the universal Church, invites also the new Churches "to participate as, soon as possible in the universal missionary work of the Church. Let them send their own missionaries to proclaim the Gospel all over the world, even though they themselves are suffering from a shortage of clergy. For their communion with the universal church reaches a certain measure of perfection when they themselves take an active part in missionary zeal toward other nations" (Ad Gentes, 20) . It is above all the Priests. who must be animated by this missionary spirit, and make themselves available to begin missionary activity not only in their own diocese, but also beyond it  when asked by the Bishop to do so.
2. The Society of St. Peter Apostle: one hundred years in the service of the local clergy.
This year marks the centenary of the founding of the Pontifical Mission Society of St. Peter Apostle: just as from the loving heart of Pauline Jaricot the Society of the Propagation of the Faith was born, so too, from the love and sacrifice of two other women, Stephanie and Jeanne- Bigard, mother and daughter, this other fundamental missionary initiative came into being. The flame was lit by a letter from Mgr..Cousin, Bishop of Nagasaki, who on June 1st 1889 wrote to Madame Bigard, already, his benefactor and collaborator, saying how he was forced to refuse admission to the  many young men, anxious to become Priests, because of a lack of the funds necessary for their formation. Madame Bigard and her daughter recognised in that letter an appeal from the will of God, an appeal which changed radically their life. They began tirelessly to raise money to help those aspiring-"to the priesthood, who, in mission countries were in ever greater numbers knocking on the seminary doors. These two generous, women encountered many difficulties, but they did not desist from their. commitment; they carried on faithfully till their death, and experienced the joy of seeing the Society approved and blessed by the -Holy See.
One hundred years after its foundation, it preserves in tact its value in the prospect of that purpose from which it originated: "to awaken Christian peoples", to the problem of training local clergy in the mission" Churches and to invite them to co-operate in the training of candidates for the priesthood by their spiritual and material aid" (Statutes Pontifical Missionary Societies,15.) 
The Society of St Peter Apostle which, in duty bound, but also as a personal desire, I wished to recall and am anxious to recommend in this message, has contributed greatly to the growth of local Clergy and continues to play an important role in the funds it provides so that, in the young Churches, the Seminaries, the Houses of Formation and Centres for Higher studies are able to accept and adequately prepare local vocations for the commitments of the apostolate.
While I thank from my heart those who with their prayers and their offerings, participate in the Society's work, I invite everyone to praise the Lord for the wonders he has worked, using Stephanie and Jeanne Bigard, who consecrated themselves to the missionary cause with total dedication. The Church, who - as I wrote in my Apostolic Letter Mulieris Dignitatem,- "gives thanks for all the manifestations of feminine 'genius' which have appeared in the course of history" (n. 31) , cannot fail to magnify the Lord when considering the fruits of evangelisation and holiness that have matured thanks to the Society begun by Madame and Mademoiselle Bigard.

3.  All members of the Church must strive to promote missionary vocations and to announce the Gospel.
The Society of St Peter Apostle highlights the irreplaceable function belonging to the Clergy in the evangelising mission. The Christian communities need its pastoral service to guide them in their life of faith and to grow in missionary spirit.  The most important challenge that the universal mission places before the whole Church is that of vocations in all the various expressions in which they may be realised, that is in the priestly or religious life or that of a lay person. "What is first needed for the evangelisation of the world" are, those who will evangelise. In this regard everyone beginning with the Christian family, must feel the responsibility to foster the birth and growth of vocations, both priestly and religious as well as in the lay state, specifically directed to the missions. This should be done by relying on every appropriate means but without ever neglecting the privileged means of prayer, according to the very words of the Lord Jesus: "The harvest is plentiful,. but the labourers...are few; pray therefore the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers into his harvest!" (Mt.9, 37;38) (Christifideles Laici, 35) .
The present situation -I recalled in the same Apostolic Letter on the vocation and mission of the laity - demands that, regarding the duty to announce the  Gospel, every disciple of the" Lord feels personally called:" Woe unto me if I do; not preach the gospel! " ( 1 Cor 9:16) .The lay faithful are prepared for this work by the sacraments of Christian initiation and by the gifts of the Holy Spirit.  (cf. Christifideles Laici, 33). In view of the laity's participation in the Church's universal mission, is it not the fact that two of the four Pontifical Missionary Societies, namely the Society for the Propagation of the Faith and the Society of St. Peter Apostle, were founded by lay persons, and more precisely by women aflame with zeal for the Kingdom of God, a reason for joy and hope?

4. The permanent service of animation and of formation of the Pontifical Mission Societies 
Although I have dwelt on the activity of the Society of St. Peter Apostle, on the occasion of the Centenary of its foundation, I cannot close this message without commending also the other Missionary Societies: Propagation of the Faith, Holy Childhood and the Missionary Union, of priests and Religious, societies which are at the service of the Pope and the particular Churches .
Though each carries out its own distinct activity, they have one common fundamental purpose: to promote and keep alive in the People of God, pastors and faithful an intense missionary spirit which becomes a commitment to the promotion of missionary vocations, to providing help, for all the missions in the world so as to meet their ever growing demands and needs, with the generous contribution of all Christians.
The Pope, on this Day of universal charity, makes himself a spokesman of all the poor people of the world; a spokesman above all the missionaries who are reaching out to their brothers in faith and to all men of good will.
The missionaries toil to announce the Gospel in the remotest places of mission, that mission which also in our day meets with difficulties and trials and quite often calls for the supreme witness of the giving of one's life. Therefore on behalf of the whole Church, I send them my word of loving encouragement, that in their apostolate they may feel themselves accompanied and sustained by the presence of the Risen Lord, by the power of his Spirit and by the solidarity of the community of believers..
May all the Lord's disciples remember that the Blessed Virgin Mary, Queen of, the Apostles and Mother of all peoples, is their model and "supporting the missionary commitment. To her I entrust the missionary activity of the Church and all, those who consecrate their lives so that the Kingdom be announced and the Church be implanted in the heart of the world..
To missionaries and to their collaborators, to all, who in any way participate in the Church's missionary work, I cordially impart my Apostolic Blessing as a pledge of divine favour and sign of my affection and gratitude.
Given at the Vatican, on the Feast of Pentecost, May14,
in the year 1989, the eleventh of my Pontificate.
(signed) Joannes Paulus PP.II

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