At 12:40pm today, in the Sala Clementina at the Apostolic Palace, the Holy Father, Pope Francis received in audience, those who are participating in the General Assembly of the Pontifical Mission Societies.
Dear brothers and sisters,
I am pleased to meet all of you who are committed to the Pontifical Mission Societies, in the service of the Church in order to fulfill the missionary mandate of evangelizing people, even to the farthest ends of the earth. I thank Cardinal Filoni for his cordial words.
Humanity needs the gospel so badly, truly a source of joy, of hope and of peace. The mission of evangelization is one of highest priority because missionary activity is still the greatest challenge facing the Church. And how I long to find the right words to stir up enthusiasm for a new chapter of evangelization full of fervour, joy, generosity, courage, boundless love and attraction! (Apostolic Exhortation, Evangelii gaudium, 261).
The proclamation of the gospel is the first and constant preoccupation of the Church, her essential commitment, her greatest challenge, and the source of her renewal. Blessed Paul VI added: it is her vocation. In fact, the mission of evangelization, its intensity and effectiveness also derives the true renewal of the Church, of her structures and of her pastoral activities. Without the worry and anxiety of evangelization, it is not possible to develop a credible and effective pastoral approach, one that unites proclamation and human advancement. Missionary activity is the paradigm of the work of the Church (EG, 15).
To you, members of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples and National Directors of the Pontifical Mission Societies, by vocation and for the sake of ministry, yours is a challenging but privileged task: your view and your concern spreads out to the limits of the very horizons of humanity, to its geographic boundaries and above all, its human limitations. With esteem and affection, you accompany the life of the young Churches throughout the world, and enliven the People of God so that they might fully experience her universal mission. You know the marvels that the Holy Spirit, through these Churches, at times poor in resources, is accomplishing in humanity, even despite many difficulties and persecutions that they suffer for their faith and their witness to the Word of God and in defence of humanity. In those human peripheries, the Church is called to go out into the streets and to meet many of our brothers and sisters who live there without the strength, the light and the consolation of Jesus Christ, without a community of faith to welcome them, without a horizon of meaning and of life (cf EG, 49).
The Congregation for Evangelization and the Pontifical Mission Societies are therefore promoters of a renewed evangelization, addressed to everyone and in particular to the poor, the least among us, those on the margins of society (cf EG, 198).
The Pontifical Mission Societies, by the charism that characterizes them, are attentive and sensitive to the needs of the mission territories and particularly to those who are poor. They are instruments of communion between the Churches, promoting and accomplishing a sharing of human and economic resources. They are committed to supporting seminarians, priests and religious in young Churches found in mission lands and in Pontifical Colleges. Faced with such a beautiful and important task, faith in and love for Christ can inspire you to proclaim the gospel of love, friendship and justice everywhere. This is accomplished with prayer, with evangelical courage and with your witness to the Beatitudes. Please be careful not to fall into the temptation to become an NGO, an office of distribution of ordinary and extraordinary subsidies. Money can help - we know this! - but it can also become a burden for the Missions. Functionalism, when it becomes the focus or when it occupies too much space, or when it is given too much importance, can be a threat, because the best way to die is to take our sources for granted, that is to say the primary reasons for the Missions. Please be careful, with so many plans and programs, not to allow your missionary work to lose sight of Jesus Christ, whose work you are doing. A Church that is reduced to efficiency on the part of its members is already dead, even if the structures and the programs aimed at promoting self-sustained clergy and laity are meant to last for years.
True evangelization is not possible except through the sanctifying energy of the Holy Spirit, the only one who is capable of renewing, shaking up and giving meaning to the Church to boldly go outside herself in order to evangelize all people (cf EG, 261).
May the Virgin Mary, Star of Evangelization, always obtain for us a passion for the Kingdom of God, so that the joy of the gospel might be proclaimed to the ends of the earth and so that no periphery ever be deprived of its light. I affectionately bless you all, and please don't forget to pray for me.
Let us pray the Angelus together.
Angelus Domini ... after which the Pope imparted his blessing.
Speech of the Holy Father, Pope Francis
to members of the Pontifical Mission Societies
Dear brothers and sisters,
I am pleased to meet all of you who are committed to the Pontifical Mission Societies, in the service of the Church in order to fulfill the missionary mandate of evangelizing people, even to the farthest ends of the earth. I thank Cardinal Filoni for his cordial words.
Humanity needs the gospel so badly, truly a source of joy, of hope and of peace. The mission of evangelization is one of highest priority because missionary activity is still the greatest challenge facing the Church. And how I long to find the right words to stir up enthusiasm for a new chapter of evangelization full of fervour, joy, generosity, courage, boundless love and attraction! (Apostolic Exhortation, Evangelii gaudium, 261).
The proclamation of the gospel is the first and constant preoccupation of the Church, her essential commitment, her greatest challenge, and the source of her renewal. Blessed Paul VI added: it is her vocation. In fact, the mission of evangelization, its intensity and effectiveness also derives the true renewal of the Church, of her structures and of her pastoral activities. Without the worry and anxiety of evangelization, it is not possible to develop a credible and effective pastoral approach, one that unites proclamation and human advancement. Missionary activity is the paradigm of the work of the Church (EG, 15).
To you, members of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples and National Directors of the Pontifical Mission Societies, by vocation and for the sake of ministry, yours is a challenging but privileged task: your view and your concern spreads out to the limits of the very horizons of humanity, to its geographic boundaries and above all, its human limitations. With esteem and affection, you accompany the life of the young Churches throughout the world, and enliven the People of God so that they might fully experience her universal mission. You know the marvels that the Holy Spirit, through these Churches, at times poor in resources, is accomplishing in humanity, even despite many difficulties and persecutions that they suffer for their faith and their witness to the Word of God and in defence of humanity. In those human peripheries, the Church is called to go out into the streets and to meet many of our brothers and sisters who live there without the strength, the light and the consolation of Jesus Christ, without a community of faith to welcome them, without a horizon of meaning and of life (cf EG, 49).
The Congregation for Evangelization and the Pontifical Mission Societies are therefore promoters of a renewed evangelization, addressed to everyone and in particular to the poor, the least among us, those on the margins of society (cf EG, 198).
The Pontifical Mission Societies, by the charism that characterizes them, are attentive and sensitive to the needs of the mission territories and particularly to those who are poor. They are instruments of communion between the Churches, promoting and accomplishing a sharing of human and economic resources. They are committed to supporting seminarians, priests and religious in young Churches found in mission lands and in Pontifical Colleges. Faced with such a beautiful and important task, faith in and love for Christ can inspire you to proclaim the gospel of love, friendship and justice everywhere. This is accomplished with prayer, with evangelical courage and with your witness to the Beatitudes. Please be careful not to fall into the temptation to become an NGO, an office of distribution of ordinary and extraordinary subsidies. Money can help - we know this! - but it can also become a burden for the Missions. Functionalism, when it becomes the focus or when it occupies too much space, or when it is given too much importance, can be a threat, because the best way to die is to take our sources for granted, that is to say the primary reasons for the Missions. Please be careful, with so many plans and programs, not to allow your missionary work to lose sight of Jesus Christ, whose work you are doing. A Church that is reduced to efficiency on the part of its members is already dead, even if the structures and the programs aimed at promoting self-sustained clergy and laity are meant to last for years.
True evangelization is not possible except through the sanctifying energy of the Holy Spirit, the only one who is capable of renewing, shaking up and giving meaning to the Church to boldly go outside herself in order to evangelize all people (cf EG, 261).
May the Virgin Mary, Star of Evangelization, always obtain for us a passion for the Kingdom of God, so that the joy of the gospel might be proclaimed to the ends of the earth and so that no periphery ever be deprived of its light. I affectionately bless you all, and please don't forget to pray for me.
Let us pray the Angelus together.
Angelus Domini ... after which the Pope imparted his blessing.
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