Pope Francis Calls for Missionary Conversion of the Church which is "...going out of oneself to announce with life God's free and saving love for us..."
MESSAGE OF THE HOLY FATHER FRANCIS
TO THE PONTIFICAL MISSIONARY WORKS
Dear brothers and sisters!
In this special year you have gathered in Lyon, the city where the Pontifical Mission Societies originated and where the beatification of Pauline Jaricot, the founder of the Society for the Propagation of the Faith, will be celebrated. It marks the bicentenary, as well as the centenary of its elevation, together with the Work of the Holy Childhood and the Work of St. Peter the Apostle, to the rank of "Pontifical". To these was added later, always recognized by Pius XII, the Pontifical Missionary Union, which celebrates the 150th anniversary of the birth of the founder, Blessed Paolo Manna.
These anniversaries are part of the 400th anniversary celebration of the Congregation De Propaganda Fide, to which the Mission Societies are closely linked and with which they collaborate in supporting the Churches in the territories entrusted to the Dicastery. It was established to support and coordinate the spread of the Gospel in hitherto unknown lands. But the evangelizing thrust has never failed in the Church and always remains its fundamental dynamism. Therefore I wanted the Dicastery of Evangelization to assume a special role in the renewed Roman Curia as well in order to foster the missionary conversion of the Church (Praedicate Evangelium, 2-3), which is not proselytism, but witness: going out of oneself to announce with life God's free and saving love for us, all called to be brothers and sisters.
You have therefore arranged to meet in Lyon because there, 200 years ago, a 23-year-old young woman, Pauline Marie Jaricot, had the courage to found a work to support the missionary activity of the Church; she a few years later she started the "Living Rosary", an organization dedicated to prayer and the sharing of offerings. From a wealthy family, she died in poverty: with her beatification the Church attests that she was able to accumulate treasures in Heaven (cf. only by losing it is he found again (cf. Mk 8:35).
Pauline Jaricot was fond of saying that the Church is missionary by nature (cf. Ad gentes, 2) and that therefore every baptized person has a mission; indeed, it is a mission. Helping to live this awareness is the first service of the Pontifical Mission Societies, a service they perform with the Pope and in the name of the Pope. This link between the PMS and the Petrine ministry, established a hundred years ago, translates into concrete service to the Bishops, to the particular Churches, to the whole People of God. At the same time it is your task, according to the Council (cf. Ad gentes, 38), to help the Bishops to open each particular Church to the horizons of the universal Church.
The jubilees you celebrate and the beatification of Pauline Jaricot offer me the opportunity to re-propose three aspects that, thanks to the action of the Holy Spirit, have contributed so much to the spread of the Gospel in the history of the PMS.
First of all, missionary conversion: the goodness of the mission depends on the journey out of oneself, on the desire not to center life on oneself, but on Jesus, on Jesus who came to serve and not to be served (cf. Mk 10:45 ). In this sense Pauline Jaricot saw her existence as a response to the compassionate and tender mercy of God: from her youth she sought identification with her Lord, also through the sufferings she went through, in order to ignite the flame of his love in every man. Here lies the source of the mission, in the ardor of a faith that is not satisfied and which, through conversion, imitates day by day in order to channel God's mercy on the roads of the world.
But this is possible - second aspect - only through prayer, which is the first form of mission (cf. Message to the Pontifical Mission Societies, 20 May 2020). It is no coincidence that Pauline placed the Work of Propagation of the Faith alongside the Living Rosary, as if to reaffirm that the mission begins with prayer and cannot be achieved without it (cf. Acts 13: 1-3). Yes, because it is the Spirit of the Lord who precedes and allows all our good works: the primacy is always of his grace. Otherwise, the mission would become a run in vain.
Finally, the concreteness of charity: together with the Pauline prayer network, she gave life to a collection of offerings on a large scale and in a creative form, accompanying it with information on the life and activities of the missionaries. The donations of so many simple people were providential for the history of the missions.
Dear brothers and sisters who make up the PMS General Assembly, I wish you to walk in the path traced by this great missionary woman, letting yourselves be inspired by her concrete faith, her daring courage, her generous creativity. Through the intercession of the Virgin Mary, Star of evangelization, I invoke upon each of you the blessing of the Lord and I ask you, please, to pray for me. Rome, San Giovanni in Laterano, May 12, 2022 FRANCIS
TO THE PONTIFICAL MISSIONARY WORKS
Dear brothers and sisters!
In this special year you have gathered in Lyon, the city where the Pontifical Mission Societies originated and where the beatification of Pauline Jaricot, the founder of the Society for the Propagation of the Faith, will be celebrated. It marks the bicentenary, as well as the centenary of its elevation, together with the Work of the Holy Childhood and the Work of St. Peter the Apostle, to the rank of "Pontifical". To these was added later, always recognized by Pius XII, the Pontifical Missionary Union, which celebrates the 150th anniversary of the birth of the founder, Blessed Paolo Manna.
These anniversaries are part of the 400th anniversary celebration of the Congregation De Propaganda Fide, to which the Mission Societies are closely linked and with which they collaborate in supporting the Churches in the territories entrusted to the Dicastery. It was established to support and coordinate the spread of the Gospel in hitherto unknown lands. But the evangelizing thrust has never failed in the Church and always remains its fundamental dynamism. Therefore I wanted the Dicastery of Evangelization to assume a special role in the renewed Roman Curia as well in order to foster the missionary conversion of the Church (Praedicate Evangelium, 2-3), which is not proselytism, but witness: going out of oneself to announce with life God's free and saving love for us, all called to be brothers and sisters.
You have therefore arranged to meet in Lyon because there, 200 years ago, a 23-year-old young woman, Pauline Marie Jaricot, had the courage to found a work to support the missionary activity of the Church; she a few years later she started the "Living Rosary", an organization dedicated to prayer and the sharing of offerings. From a wealthy family, she died in poverty: with her beatification the Church attests that she was able to accumulate treasures in Heaven (cf. only by losing it is he found again (cf. Mk 8:35).
Pauline Jaricot was fond of saying that the Church is missionary by nature (cf. Ad gentes, 2) and that therefore every baptized person has a mission; indeed, it is a mission. Helping to live this awareness is the first service of the Pontifical Mission Societies, a service they perform with the Pope and in the name of the Pope. This link between the PMS and the Petrine ministry, established a hundred years ago, translates into concrete service to the Bishops, to the particular Churches, to the whole People of God. At the same time it is your task, according to the Council (cf. Ad gentes, 38), to help the Bishops to open each particular Church to the horizons of the universal Church.
The jubilees you celebrate and the beatification of Pauline Jaricot offer me the opportunity to re-propose three aspects that, thanks to the action of the Holy Spirit, have contributed so much to the spread of the Gospel in the history of the PMS.
First of all, missionary conversion: the goodness of the mission depends on the journey out of oneself, on the desire not to center life on oneself, but on Jesus, on Jesus who came to serve and not to be served (cf. Mk 10:45 ). In this sense Pauline Jaricot saw her existence as a response to the compassionate and tender mercy of God: from her youth she sought identification with her Lord, also through the sufferings she went through, in order to ignite the flame of his love in every man. Here lies the source of the mission, in the ardor of a faith that is not satisfied and which, through conversion, imitates day by day in order to channel God's mercy on the roads of the world.
But this is possible - second aspect - only through prayer, which is the first form of mission (cf. Message to the Pontifical Mission Societies, 20 May 2020). It is no coincidence that Pauline placed the Work of Propagation of the Faith alongside the Living Rosary, as if to reaffirm that the mission begins with prayer and cannot be achieved without it (cf. Acts 13: 1-3). Yes, because it is the Spirit of the Lord who precedes and allows all our good works: the primacy is always of his grace. Otherwise, the mission would become a run in vain.
Finally, the concreteness of charity: together with the Pauline prayer network, she gave life to a collection of offerings on a large scale and in a creative form, accompanying it with information on the life and activities of the missionaries. The donations of so many simple people were providential for the history of the missions.
Dear brothers and sisters who make up the PMS General Assembly, I wish you to walk in the path traced by this great missionary woman, letting yourselves be inspired by her concrete faith, her daring courage, her generous creativity. Through the intercession of the Virgin Mary, Star of evangelization, I invoke upon each of you the blessing of the Lord and I ask you, please, to pray for me. Rome, San Giovanni in Laterano, May 12, 2022 FRANCIS
Source: Vatican.va - Image Screenshot
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