Rome (Fides Service) - Fidei donum was the last encyclical issued by Pope Pius XII on 21 April 1957. Faced with the situation of extreme need in Africa at that time, the Pope called on Bishops of long established Churches to send priests and lay people on mission as a “gift of faith”. The concept has since broadened to include all priests sent by a diocese anywhere in the world to help another diocese. To celebrate the 50th anniversary of Fide Donum the Italian Bishops’ Conference, through its Office for Missionary Cooperation among Churches together with the National Mission Council and Centro Unitario Missionario CUM is launching a programme Fidei Donum 2007 which includes various events including the following:
November 8 - 10, Meeting “From fruitful memories to courageous prospects” for returned Fidei Donum. Working in various fields of pastoral activity Italy’s 700 returned Fidei Donum serve as a natural bridge of exchange of experiences of evangelisation. The meeting will focus on pastoral life andputting to better fruit experiences of missionary cooperation.
January 30 - 3 February 2006 in Salvador Bahia (Brazil), Meeting for Italian missionaries in Latin America: to re-read Fidei Donum from a point of view of receiving and sending dioceses.
Fenruary 13 - 15 in Verona at CUM, Meeting for diocesan directors of missionary pastoral to re-launch the Fidei Donum experience in Italian dioceses. (S.L.) (Agenzia Fides 24/9/2005, righe 20, parole 267)