MESSAGE OF THE HOLY FATHER PAUL VI
FOR WORLD MISSION DAY 1976

Venerable Brothers and dearest Sons!

In the context of the principal celebrations of the Church scheduled for this year, a place of particular importance due to its profound pastoral significance undoubtedly belongs to World Mission Day, which was instituted fifty years ago by our great Predecessor Pius XI on 14 April 1926, and will take place, as always, on the penultimate Sunday of October.

Welcomed from the outset with singular interest and fervor by all the Episcopate, generously supported in this by the clergy, religious and faithful, this Day has procured for the Church abundant and consoling fruits not only with regard to the direct missionary apostolate, but also for the preservation and growth of the faith both in the Churches of ancient origin and in those of recent foundation.

According to the intentions of its Promoter, the annual Day aims above all at the formation of missionary awareness among all the people of God, both individuals and communities, at the care of missionary vocations, at the progressive increase of cooperation, spiritual and material, at missionary activity in all its ecclesial dimension.

We ourselves, since the elevation to the Supreme Pontificate, following the example of Our Predecessors, have sought with our authority, with our exhortations and our advice to enhance this anniversary as much as possible, in the conviction of fulfilling a sacred duty. In this jubilee year we wish to bring forward our customary exhortation for the celebration of Missionary Sunday to the very day of its institution, which falls precisely on 14 April.

Missionary Universalism of the People of God

In the Message which we addressed to Cardinal Alessandro Renard, Archbishop of Lyons in 1972, on the occasion of the Missionary Congress celebrated there, we already recalled the need to give ever greater importance to the celebration of this great Day . These seriously prepared days – we said – allow Christians to take a fresh look at the missions. and to examine local evangelization and distant evangelization as integrated in the same missionary ministry, whose only source is Christ ( AAS 64 (1972) 732).

We sincerely desire that in the year 1976 this celebration will have a special prominence through a thorough and wide-ranging catechesis on the missionary universalism of the Church. This very important theme constitutes one of the principal doctrinal motifs of the entire Second Vatican Council, as well as of the most recent Synod of Bishops and of our Apostolic Exhortation ” Evangelii Nuntiandi “, which arose from it.

It was precisely the dissemination of the doctrine on missionary universalism among the People of God, the first and most important purpose assigned to this Day, which from its inception in a public document of the Holy See was defined as “The Great Day of Catholicism” (cf. Letter of Card. Van Rossum, Prefect of Propaganda Fide, to the Bishops of Italy, 1926) . This same universalism has also constituted the fundamental motif of all our pastoral exhortations directed to the Christian people, on the occasion of the missionary anniversary in October.

Missionary universalism continually emerges from the Gospel. This is not surprising, since the Gospel is the compendium of the deeds and words of the Son of God, sent by the Father into the world to carry out his plan of universal salvation. For this reason, all that Christ has done, all the words that he has spoken, cannot fail to be related to his mission as Redeemer of all men.

In all the pages of the Gospel we encounter ever new, luminous and profound perspectives on the universal salvific mission of Christ, transmitted to the Church which he founded. We must not forget that this mission must constitute a doctrinal and dynamic center of all ecclesial pastoral care, even in the changing of ages and historical and environmental circumstances. This means that that same law, of a permanent and universal nature, must be applied in practice by the Church to the men of each generation.

Unfortunately, we must recognize in this regard that, almost two thousand years after the foundation of the Church, the current religious situation of humanity does not seem to correspond to the efficacy of this apostolic action, intended to implement the mandate received. Already Saint Paul in his time wondered why so many men did not believe in Jesus Christ; but, instead of attributing the responsibility to the obstinacy of the pagans or to their false beliefs, he called into question the lack of apostolic commitment of the Christians: And how will they believe in Him (Christ), if they have not heard of Him? And how will they hear about it, if there is no one who preaches? How can there be anyone who preaches if no one is sent? Faith therefore comes from hearing, and hearing from the word of Christ ( Rom. 10, 14 ff.).

This is one of the great mysteries, the content of which is reserved to the Lord. Having called us to be part of God’s people, and having wanted to make us recipients of his universal plan of salvation, he has done us an inestimable honor, but at the same time has placed us in a tremendous responsibility. By establishing the Church as a sacrament of salvation, he certainly endowed her with all the means necessary for the full fulfillment of his transcendent mission; but in his inscrutable designs he established that these same saving means, effective because divine, depend in some way, in their application, on our greater or lesser zeal, that is, they are conditioned by our will, more or less generous, by our fragile correspondence and, at the limit, by our own sins.

We could also answer that the religious situation of the modern world would be different if all Christians had kept love for Christ and their brothers alive in their hearts, and if they had been more committed to spreading the Gospel throughout the world in keeping with Christ’s mandate. Yes, we can find in the pages of history peoples who have voluntarily closed themselves to the Gospel, or who have violently persecuted the Church already established among them; but there are also numerous pages – referable to all times – which attest to omissions and selfishness, as a result of which the work of evangelization has been delayed or seriously compromised.

In Our Exhortation “Evangelii Nuntiandi” cited above, we indicated in particular the division among Christians, which – these are the words of the Second Vatican Council – undermines the sacrosanct cause of preaching the Gospel to every creature and closes the doors of faith to many ( Ad Gentes , 6).

Missionary Responsibility of All God’s People

All members of the Church without distinction must be acutely aware of their responsibility towards the world, foster within themselves the truly Catholic spirit and consecrate their energies to the work of evangelization ( Ibid . 36). The missionary spirit and the Catholic spirit are the same thing, as stated in the important Encyclical “Fidei Donum “ of Pius XII (PII XII Fidei Donum : AAS 49 (1957) 237) Catholicity – it continues– is the main note of the Church to the point that the Christian in no way adheres to the Church and is bound to it, if at the same time he does not adhere to and is not bound to the universality of all the faithful and if he does not ardently desire that this same Church take root and flourish in all regions of the earth (PII XII Fidei Donum : AAS 49 ( 1957 ) 237 ) . These two essential conditions for the truly Catholic spirit are well worthy of being remembered in anticipation of the forthcoming October Day.

In our Apostolic Epistle “Graves et Increscentes” on the Pontifical Missionary Union we reminded all the priests, men and women religious of the world, that it is their proper and very serious duty to help the people of God to acquire a correct and full awareness of the Church as a living body made up of various members united among themselves. . .. that they learn to think and act like particles, like children and brothers of this ecclesial community. . .. that they acquire full awareness of the mystery of the Church, and that a dynamic missionary spirit is thus created (PAULI PP. VI Graves et Increscentes : AAS 58 (1966) 753-754). Indeed: Nothing that belongs to the Church is or should be alien to the Christian; because in the same way that the faith of each one is the faith of the universal Church, and his supernatural life is the life proper to the whole Church, so also the consolations and pains of the Church will be her pains and her consolations; in the same way the universal concerns and perspectives of the Church must be the concerns and perspectives of Christians in their daily life (PII XII Fidei Donum : AAS 49 (1957) 238).

This missionary responsibility with a universal dimension is, on the other hand, in perfect consonance with the universal missionary needs which emanate from one of the main features of the Church, which is catholicity; from Baptism and Confirmation; from the liturgy and, in particular, from the Eucharistic celebration; by the grave missionary responsibility of the Pope and the Bishops; from the broad, repeated and clear pontifical magisterium regarding the duty to cooperate in the missionary activity of the Church; and finally from the documents of the Second Vatican Council.

Primacy of Universal Missionary Cooperation

This cooperation of a universal nature is not only a duty of all the People of God, but it is a priority duty compared to any other form of cooperation of a particular order, which embraces not only the individual members of the Mystical Body but also all ecclesial communities and institutions. It corresponds analogically to the primordial and irrepressible need of every cell of a living organism: that of contributing to the sustenance, development and improvement of the whole being. Only in this cooperation to the fullness of the whole will each member find the guarantee of his salvation, his growth and his perfection.

The Decree “Ad Gentes”, when it speaks of missionary aid given by one particular Church to another, approves and recommends it; however he adds an important warning: It will be very useful to maintain contact, without however neglecting the general missionary work, with the missionaries who originate from the same community, or with a mission parish or diocese, so that the intimate union between the communities becomes visible, with the advantage of mutual edification (Ad Gentes, 37; cf. PAULI PP. VI Evangelii Nuntiandi , 61-64 ) .

The Missionary Day Expression of a Permanent Evangelization

Many Christians believe that offering prayers and almsgiving on Mission Sunday is sufficient to fulfill their missionary duty. This would mean not fully understanding the true meaning of this celebration, since it is a duty which arises from the very nature of the Church and which weighs constantly on our conscience – just as the obligation of fraternal love weighs upon us every day of the year – even if only one day of the year is dedicated in a particular way to this purpose .

In the motu proprio ” Ecclesiae Sanctae “, with which the norms for the application of certain conciliar decrees to pastoral practice are established, we have already included this important note with respect to said Day: In order to intensify the missionary spirit in the Christian people, daily prayers and sacrifices must be recommended, so that the celebration of the annual Mission Day is a spontaneous manifestation of that spirit (PAULI PP. VI Ecclesiae Sanctae , III , 3 ) .

The Pontifical Mission Societies, the Main and Permanent Expression of the Missionary Cooperation of All God’s People

We want to conclude this Message of ours by once again presenting the Missionary Societies as bearers of this missionary universalism, which obliges – as we have already said – all members of the Church, on a personal and collective level.

Indeed, it is missionary universalism that distinguished them from the outset and that moved the Holy See to raise them to the dignity of “Pontifical Societies” in the precise meaning of the Church’s official instrument for the missionary cooperation of the people of God. This same universalism and this title gave the Second Vatican Council the occasion to declare them also the principal instrument of the Bishops for the pastoral action they carry out in favor of the missions.

Therefore, it is not because of a privilege graciously granted by the ecclesiastical hierarchy that the Missionary Societies must put themselves before particular missionary cooperation; it is a title that derives from their very nature and their specific purpose. These are Organizations that were born, structured and developed with the precise aim of cooperating in all the missionary activity of the Church according to her many needs, providing on the basis of a lucid plan in the global vision of the problems. For this reason they have full reason to receive help from the entire People of God, both from individuals and from various institutions.

This system of cooperation in the Church’s missionary activity embraces all its components, from the Pope to the least of the faithful (…). Every Bishop, every Priest, every faithful, if he carries out some activity of missionary apostolate, direct or indirect in personal sectors, must also give his collaboration to the general activities of the Church; that is, to the Pontifical Societies, which while they belong to the Pope, they belong to all the Episcopate and all the people of God (PAUL PP. VI, Message for World Mission Day 1968 ).

These Works solicitously try to translate into reality the significant motto of one of the most effective promoters of missionary universalism in the 20th century, Fr. Paolo Manna, motto imprinted on his tomb: The whole Church for the whole world .

The same universal purpose of these Works also pushes them to put into action all the means that appear effective for educating the people of God in an authentic universalistic and missionary spirit; to promote missionary vocations in their multiform variety; to permanently develop charity in its double aspect, spiritual and material, always under the banner of the fullest catholicity (PAUL PP. VI, Message for World Mission Sunday 1974 ).

Precisely to one of these Works, that of the Propagation of the Faith, deserves the merit of having proposed to His Holiness Pope Pius XI, in 1926, the happy initiative of proclaiming the annual day in favor of the missionary activity of the Church. Furthermore, it has received the onerous task of promoting and organizing, with the help of the other Pontifical Societies and under the direction of the respective Bishops, this same Day, as well as that of equally distributing to the Missions the donations collected on this occasion from the charity of the Catholic world.

We sincerely desire that in this fiftieth year the Pontifical Mission Societies will acquire vigorous growth both in the Churches of ancient Christian tradition and in the Churches of more recent foundation. Thanks to these Works, each Bishop will obtain, easily and effectively, that his whole Diocese, with which he forms one ( Ad Gentes , 38), becomes aware of his responsibilities regarding cooperation in the universal mission of the Church; at the same time, they themselves will become a sure guarantee for a profound renewal of the Christian life.

In the hope that our exhortation will find a generous response from all the Brothers and Sons scattered throughout the world, we express our fatherly thanks to them right now and, as a pledge of heavenly favours, we impart the Apostolic Blessing.

From the Vatican, on the fiftieth anniversary of the establishment of World Mission Day, 14 April 1976, the thirteenth of our Pontificate.

PAUL VI

 

Credit: Dicastery for Communication, to the Holy See