Pope tells Pontifical Mission Societies to be ‘a leaven of harmony for humanity’
Leo XIV met with participants in the Societies’ annual assembly, who came from over 120 countries. He expressed his gratitude for their “mission of evangelization,” which he shared during his years of pastoral work in Peru. The Societies, he said, promote the “apostolic zeal among the People of God”, while evangelisation “inspires us to transcend the confines of our individual parishes, dioceses and nations, in order to share with every nation and people the surpassing richness of the knowledge of Jesus Christ”.
Vatican City (AsiaNews) – Pope Leo XIV met this morning with participants in the annual General Assembly of the Pontifical Mission Societies, who travelled to Rome from over 120 countries. The audience was held at 10:30 am in the Clementine Hall in the Vatican Apostolic Palace.
The pontiff began by expressing his gratitude for their service, “which is indispensable to the Church’s mission of evangelization”, a service he can personally attest to because of his “own pastoral experience in the years of my ministry serving in Peru.”
“The Pontifical Mission Societies are effectively the ‘primary means’ of awakening missionary responsibility among all the baptized and supporting ecclesial communities in areas where the Church is young,” the bishop of Rome explained.
The Pontifical Mission Societies are, reads their website, “a worldwide network at the service of the Pope to support the mission and the young Churches with prayer and charity.” Their charism is part of “the broad vision of missio ad gentes and of the relationship between the local and universal Church.”
The four societies emerged in the 19th and 20th centuries and became "pontifical" by will of Pope Pius XI, in 1922.
The Society for the Propagation of the Faith in mission territories “provides aid for pastoral and catechetical programmes, the building of new churches, healthcare, and educational needs,” the pope noted. The Society of the Holy Childhood, instead, “provides support for Christian formation programmes for children”. The Society of Saint Peter the Apostle “helps to cultivate missionary vocations, priestly and religious”. And the Pontifical Missionary Union “is committed to forming priests, religious men and women, and all the people of God”.
All four promote the “apostolic zeal among the People of God,” which is an essential feature of “the Church’s renewal as envisioned by the Second Vatican Council,” Leo said, adding that this commitment is more necessary than ever in a world “wounded by war, violence and injustice,” and in need to “hear the Gospel message of God's love”.
Especially nowadays, the Church is called to be “a missionary Church that opens its arms to the world, proclaims the word … and becomes a leaven of harmony for humanity,” the pope added, reiterating what he said last Sunday at the Mass for the beginning of his Petrine ministry. “We are to bring to all peoples, indeed to all creatures, the Gospel promise of true and lasting peace,” he said.
The pontiff, who thanked those present for promoting World Mission Sunday, on the penultimate Sunday of October, turned to the national directors, asking them to “give priority to visiting dioceses, parishes and communities, and in this way to help the faithful to recognize the fundamental importance of the missions”.
In the last part of his address, the Holy Father focused on two traits that define the Pontifical Mission Societies, namely communion and universality.
“[Y]ou are called to cultivate and further promote within your members the vision of the Church as the communion of believers,” the pope said, mentioning the first aspect. “Indeed, it is in the Trinity that all things find their unity.”
Speaking of this “dimension of our Christian life and mission," he stressed that the “mission is close to my heart, and is reflected in the words of Saint Augustine that I chose for my episcopal service and now for my papal ministry: In Illo uno unum.” He added that, “Christ is our Saviour and in him we are one, a family of God, beyond the rich variety of our languages, cultures and experiences”.
On universality, the pope said that it stems precisely from the awareness of communion. The “universal dimension of the Church’s mission of evangelization, and inspires us to transcend the confines of our individual parishes, dioceses and nations, in order to share with every nation and people the surpassing richness of the knowledge of Jesus Christ,” he said.
For Leo XIV, a "renewed focus" on these traits represents the charism of the Pontifical Mission Societies. It “should inspire the process of renewal of the statutes that you have initiated," he told his audience.
Before imparting the Apostolic Blessing at the end of his address, he cited the motto of the Jubilee, "Pilgrims of hope", saying: “I would conclude by encouraging you to continue to be ‘missionaries of hope among all peoples’.”
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13/10/2022 17:01
