World Mission Day 1982

On 30 May 1982, the Holy Father issued a Message for World Mission Day, inspired by the 25th anniversary of the Encyclical Fidei Donum by Pope Pius XII, in which is stressed the “co-responsibility of bishops, by virtue of their membership of the College of Bishops, in the evangelization of the world.” 

Venerable brothers and dearest sons and daughters of the Church!

As the next World Mission Day approaches, I would like, like every year, to address you all a personal message, which will benefit a common reflection on the missionary dimension, which belongs to the very essence of the Church, Mystical Body of Christ and People of God , and also on the consequent commitment, which involves us all, so that the Gospel of Jesus is preached and welcomed throughout the world.

This year my message is inspired by a particularly significant event: the 25th anniversary of the Encyclical "Fidei Donum" of my venerated predecessor Pius XII. With it began, in the field of missionary pastoral care, an important turning point, which then received from the Second Vatican Council those guidelines, along which the Church, aware of its intrinsic nature and mission and always aimed at studying the signs of the times , continues its journey today with the aim of serving man and leading him to salvation by revealing to him "the inscrutable riches of Christ" ( Eph 3:8).

This important document, while focusing its specific attention on Africa, contained clear directives, valid for the missionary activity of the Church in all the continents of the earth, and its original contribution converged, as is known, especially in the Conciliar Decree « Ad Gentes » and, even more recently, in the «Notae directivae» «Postquam Apostoli» of the Sacred Congregation for the Clergy.

1. The bishops, responsible for the evangelization of the world

The encyclical "Fidei Donum" first of all solemnly recalled the principle of the co-responsibility of bishops, by virtue of their membership of the College of Bishops, in the evangelization of the world.

In fact, to them, as successors of the Apostles, Christ entrusted and entrusts, before anyone else, the common mandate to proclaim and propagate the Good News to the ends of the earth. They, therefore, despite being pastors of individual parts of the flock, are and must feel solidly responsible, in union with the Vicar of Christ, for the journey and missionary duty of the entire Church; they will therefore be warmly solicitous towards «those parts of the world where the word of God has not yet been announced or where, due to the small number of priests, the faithful are in danger of moving away from the practice of Christian life, indeed, of losing the same faith" ( Christus Dominus , 6).

I would like to underline once again today this basic principle, which was deeply explored and developed by the Council (see Lumen Gentium , 23-24; Ad Gentes , 38), both to highlight its relevance and to exhort all my venerable brothers in the Episcopate to become increasingly aware of this very high responsibility of theirs, remembering that they "were consecrated not only for a diocese, but for the salvation of the whole world" ( Ad Gentes , 38).

This principle will be even clearer keeping in mind the mutual and close relationships between the particular Churches and the universal Church. If, in fact, in every particular Church, which has its hinge and foundation in its bishop, "the Church of Christ, one, holy, catholic, apostolic, is present and active" ( Christus Dominus , 11), it follows that it, in its concrete environment, it must promote all the activity that is common to the universal Church.

Every diocese is therefore called to become increasingly aware of this universal dimension, that is, to discover or rediscover its own missionary nature, widening "the spaces of charity to the ends of the earth, demonstrating for those who are far away the same concern it has for those who are its members ( Ad Gentes , 37).

Therefore, each bishop, as head and guide of the local Church, will have to commit his energies in this sense, that is, he will have to work as much as possible to impart a vigorous missionary impulse to his diocese: it is up to him first and foremost to create a Catholic mentality in the fullest sense among the faithful. of the word, open to the needs of the universal Church, sensitizing the people of God to the essential duty of cooperation in its various forms; promote appropriate initiatives of support and spiritual and material aid to the missions, strengthening existing structures or creating new ones; promote priestly and religious vocations in a very special way, simultaneously helping priests to acquire awareness of the typically apostolic dimension of the priestly ministry (see Ad Gentes , 38).

2. The lack of apostles is the primary urgency of the mission

A concrete form of cooperation, which the bishops will be able to use to realize their co-responsibility in the work of evangelization, is the sending of diocesan priests on mission, since one of the most pressing urgencies of many Churches today is precisely the worrying lack of apostles and servants of the Gospel.

This is the great news to which «Fidei Donum» has linked its name. A novelty which made the priestly service go beyond the territorial dimension to allocate it to the whole Church, as underlined by the Council: «The spiritual gift that priests received at Ordination does not prepare them for a limited and restricted mission, but for a very vast and universal mission of salvation "to the ends of the earth" ( Acts 1, 8), given that any priestly ministry shares the same universal breadth of the mission entrusted by Christ to the Apostles" ( Presbyterorum Ordinis , 10).

Since one of the most serious obstacles to the diffusion of Christ's message is precisely the lack of "workers in the Lord's vineyard", I would like to take this opportunity to urge all bishops, in their work of aid and promotion of evangelization works, to generously send own priests in those regions that urgently need them, even if their diocese is not overabundant with clergy. «It is not a question - Pius XII recalled, quoting Saint Paul - of placing you in hardship to lift up others, but of giving equality ( 2 Cor 8, 13). The dioceses suffering from a shortage of clergy should not refuse to listen to the requests coming from the missions asking for help. May the widow's mite, according to the word of the Lord, be the example to follow: if a poor diocese helps another poor one, its greater impoverishment cannot follow since one can never overcome the Lord in generosity."

But, in addition to priests, "Fidei Donum" also directly involved lay people, whose service alongside priests and religious on mission is today more precious and indispensable than ever (see Ad Gentes , 41). This created the conditions for the experience of that typical phenomenon of our time, which I would like to warmly recommend, which is international Christian volunteering.

3. Development of the missionary awareness of the local Churches

The introduction of these forms of cooperation, as well as the strong reference to the principle of the co-responsibility of the Episcopal College in the evangelization of the world, had the indisputable merit of giving the start to the missionary renewal of the Church, the presuppositions of which already appear in the far-sighted affirmation of Pius XII according to which «the life of the Church in its visible aspect», rather than preferably deploying its strength - as in the past - «in the countries of old Europe from which it spread... towards what could be called the periphery of the world », is now configured, nowadays, as an «exchange of life and energy between all the members of the Mystical Body» (Pius XII, Fidei Donum : AAS 49 [1957] 235).

First of all, the basic idea was acquired more and more deeply, later widely developed and affirmed by the Council, of the essential duty for every local Church to engage directly, according to its possibilities, in the work of evangelization; and there has therefore been an undeniable deepening of the missionary awareness of the particular Churches, as they have been urged to overcome the mentality and practice of "delegation", which had largely characterized their attitude towards missionary duty.

There has thus been a strong push for these Churches to become increasingly primary subjects of missionary activity (see Ad Gentes , 20), personally responsible for the mission (see Ad Gentes , 36-37), as I have personally seen in my travels in Africa, Latin America, Asia.

Furthermore, having accentuated this role of "missionary subject" has pushed the particular Churches to place themselves in relation to the sister Churches scattered throughout the world in that "communion"-"cooperation" which is "so necessary to carry out the work of evangelization" (see Ad Gentes , 38), and which is one of the most current realities of the mission, in an exchange of values ​​and experiences, which allows the individual Churches to benefit from the gifts that the Spirit of the Lord is disseminating everywhere (see Ad Gentes , 20).

No closure, therefore, on the part of the particular Churches, no isolationism or selfish retreat into the exclusive and limited sphere of their own problems; because, otherwise, the vital impetus would lose its vigor, inevitably leading to a pernicious impoverishment of all spiritual life.

4. Missionary cooperation, mutual exchange of energies and experiences

Here then emerges the new concept of cooperation, no longer understood as "one-way", as help provided to the younger Churches by the Churches of ancient foundation, but rather as a mutual and fruitful exchange of energies and goods, within the context of fraternal communion of sister Churches, in an overcoming of the "rich Churches"-"poor Churches" dualism, as if two distinct categories existed: Churches that "give" and Churches that only "receive". In reality, there is true reciprocity in that the poverty of a Church, which receives help, makes the Church, which deprives itself in giving, richer.

The mission thus becomes not only generous help from "rich" Churches to "poor" Churches, but a grace for every Church, a condition for renewal, a fundamental law of life (see Ad Gentes , 37).

However, it must be underlined that the appeal addressed to the particular Churches to send priests and lay people was not intended to mean overcoming the traditional forms and forces of missionary cooperation, which continue to carry the greatest burden of evangelization. It was a novelty, which was not placed as a replacement or alternative, but in complementarity, as a new richness, aroused by the Spirit, alongside traditional forces.

After twenty-five years of these experiences, which have reached a notable consistency and solidity, we are beginning to notice some signs of tiredness, due on the one hand to the decline in vocations and on the other to the urgency of facing the crisis in which they are struggling. many Christian communities of ancient tradition. Faced with the phenomenon of de-Christianization, the temptation may arise to turn in on oneself, to close oneself in one's own problems, to exhaust the missionary drive within oneself.

We therefore need a vigorous missionary relaunch, rooted in the deepest inspiration, which comes to the Church directly from the divine Master (see Evangelii Nuntiandi , 50), dictated by a confident hope and supported by the common commitment of the particular Churches and of all Christians.

5. Priority role of the Pontifical Mission Societies

In planning this vigorous missionary relaunch, an indispensable factor for the very life and growth of the local Churches and of the whole Church, I would finally like to recommend the use of that irreplaceable instrument of missionary cooperation so heartily recommended by my predecessors, constituted by the Pontifical Mission Societies , to which always and everywhere, as the " Ad Gentes " (n. 38) declares, "first place must be given" and which it is most appropriate to strengthen and develop in all dioceses.

World Mission Day makes us remember, in particular, the Pontifical Society for the Propagation of the Faith, which has the merit of having proposed to His Holiness Pope Pius missionary activity of the Church, and has the task of promoting and organizing, with the help of the other Pontifical Works and under the direction of the respective bishops, this same Day.

Due impetus must also be given to the Missionary Union of the Clergy, which has the primary task of animating and raising awareness of the urgencies of the missionary problem - through the widespread network of priests, men and women religious - all sections of the people of God.

The degree of "missionary spirit" of the entire local Church will largely depend on the correct development of this association and, in a special way, the missionary sensitivity of the priests, to whom the Union is primarily directed, so that they will naturally be pushed - into a grip of an increasingly lively and profound awareness of the apostolicity intrinsic to their priesthood - to cross not only spiritually, but also materially, the boundaries of their own diocese, to provide their service even in the most distant Churches on earth, where the loudest invocations of help.

At the conclusion of this message, I would like to express all my gratitude to those - bishops, priests, men and women religious and lay people - often at the cost of unimaginable hard work and sacrifices, they spend their best energies, their lives, "on the front line", but also "in the background", to spread the message of salvation to the ends of the world, so that the name of Christ the Redeemer is known and glorified by all.

To all of you, venerated brothers and dearest sons and daughters of the Church, I heartily impart my paternal apostolic blessing, a pledge of copious heavenly favors and a sign of my constant benevolence.

From the Vatican, on May 30, the solemnity of Pentecost, in the year 1982, the fourth of his Pontificate.

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