Mission

On the feast day of the saint of the marginalised, Fr Alberto Caccaro, a PIME missionary in Cambodia, remembers celebrating the Eucharist with the Missionaries of Charity in their house on the outskirts of Phnom Penh. When he distributes the Communion, he is happy that Jesus, “the Bread of Heaven”, comes to rest on the “visibly damaged hands” of people “that no one else would take in”.

The testimony of an Indian religious of the Missionaries of the Immaculate from the first country in Oceania that will welcome the Pope in a week's time. Life on the most remote islands, the hand of God in trials and dangers, the challenge of truly bringing the Gospel inside traditional cultures, the need for new missionaries. ‘Living here has filled me with immense joy: the simple people here have inspired me, showing me the beauty of humility and the joy of daily life.’

A new book presented today at the Rimini Meeting recounts the reality of the island from the faces of its people and the missionary experience of the St. Charles Borromoeo Fraternity. Extracts from the preface, written by our editorial director: “In Taiwan we experience many things that seem to us like pages from the Gospel.”

A Sacred Heart missionary of Dutch origin, he died at the age of 88. In Indonesia since 1968, as director of the Ethics Centre at the University of Jakarta he made an important contribution to the country in the reflection on social ethics, also training young scholars.

Heir to the first seminary opened in 1665 to train the local clergy in Ayuthia in present-day Thailand, the College General has seen more than 50 graduates give their lives for the Gospel, including the martyrs of the Vietnamese persecution in the 18th century and those who perished in Pol Pot’s Cambodia. For Card Francis, “May the exemplary and courageous spirit of these martyrs continue to inspire” today’s priests in Malaysia.

By the end of the year, two priests and three nuns from Italy, India and Myanmar will set up a new outpost in the Diocese of Tanjung Selor, Indonesian Borneo, together with other congregations established elsewhere in the world inspired by PIME’s charism. For the Institute’s Superior General, Fr Brambillasca, this is “a project to renew in everyone the desire to leave for the mission.”

In today's Ordinary Public Consistory fixed for World Missions Sunday the ceremony during which the Franciscans and laymen killed in Syria in 1860 and the founder of the Consolata missionaries, priests and nuns also present today in South Korea, Mongolia, Kazakhstan and Taiwan will be proclaimed saints in Rome.

Participants in the 19th General Chapter of the great congregation present in 79 countries and today more than half of them are missionaries of Asian origin were received at the Vatican. And to a delegation from the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople the Pontiff confirmed his desire to travel to NIcea next year together with Bartholomew to commemorate together the 1700 years of the Creed.

Three years now since the death of his apostolic vicar Fr. Sim that Pope Francis had wanted to create cardinal, the small local Church continues its journey keeping the faith alive in this Muslim state of Borneo. The contribution of the lively community of Filipino migrants in the life of the three parishes.

He died of a heart attack at the age of 69. Since the years when Duterte was mayor of the capital of Mindanao he had fought against his death squads engaged in the ‘war on drugs’. A Redemptorist missionary, he made a great contribution to the grassroots ecclesial communities.

The first World Children's Day is being celebrated over the weekend, at the initiative of the Holy Father. Bishop Martinelli met with a group of children, answering their questions, and inviting them to put "their joy, their enthusiasm" at the service of the Church. About a hundred young people met in Hong Kong to share experiences and expectations.

Inaugurated by Card. Gracias on the eve of Pentecost, it proposes the twenty mysteries of the Rosary through 252 statues at natural height and in a setting that recalls the time of Jesus. The Archbishop of Mumbai: "A great gift from which many will benefit".