MESSAGE OF JOHN PAUL II
FOR WORLD MISSION DAY, 1989

Dear brothers and sisters!

The Church’s mission began at Pentecost. The announcement of the risen Lord, made by the apostles to the crowd of pilgrims who had gathered in Jerusalem, was heard and welcomed in the variety of languages and cultures they represented, thus in some way anticipating the universality of the new People of God. It is in the spirit It is in the grace of Pentecost, the ever-fruitful source of the Church’s evangelising and missionary vocation, that I address you this message for the annual World Mission Day.

The celebration of this day, consecrated to prayer, catechesis, and the collection of aid for the missions, reminds the whole Church of the duty to go all over the world to bring the announcement of the Gospel. May this anniversary bring to all the People of God, pastors and faithful, a renewed outpouring of the Holy Spirit, who is the Spirit of the mission, the one who must now continue the saving work, rooted in the sacrifice of the Cross. Jesus entrusted her to the Church; but “the Holy Spirit remains the transcendent protagonist of the realization of this work in the human spirit and in the history of the world” (Dominumn et Vivificantem, 42). 

I – The native clergy, the hope of the missionary Church

God – recalls the Second Vatican Council (cf. “Lumen Gentium”, 9) – wanted to sanctify and save men not individually and without any bond between them, but by making them a people: the messianic people which has Christ as its head and is gathered in the Church. This exists in local communities, which are entrusted to the care and guidance of their own pastors, who govern them, exercising the office of Christ Shepherd and Head according to their share of authority (cf. Lumen Gentium, 28). Their authority and mission is to announce the Gospel, to sanctify and to govern the People of God.

The proclamation of the Gospel, made by the apostles after Pentecost, gave life to baptized communities, to which they appointed leaders who guaranteed the unity and formation in the faith of the individual members, the celebration of the Eucharist, communion with the apostles and other Christian communities.

What the apostles did at the beginning of the spread of the Church in the world continues today through missionary evangelization: in fact “for the constitution of the Church and the development of the Christian community, various types of ministries are necessary, aroused within the very ambit of the faithful: among these are to be numbered the duties of priests, deacons and catechists” (Ad Gentes, 15).

In this message I wish to underline above all the need and the value of the presence of the native clergy in the young Christian communities. The events of the formation and development of the native clergy mark the path of missionary evangelization. It was above all the Roman Pontiffs, in their responsibility as Pastors of the universal Church, who were concerned that, together with the sending of missionaries, the nascent communities of mission countries were supplied, as soon as possible, with local priests and local Bishops. This was promoted in particular by the Popes of this century, starting with Benedict XV, who in the “Maximum illud” (of which we celebrate the sixtieth of publication) stated among other things: “Whoever presides over the Mission must direct to the good formation of the indigenous clergy,

The flourishing of the native clergy is praised by the missionaries themselves who, with patient and persevering tenacity, sometimes to the point of martyrdom, worked and suffered to form new Christian communities, trying to make families blossom the precious fruit of vocations to the priesthood, to religious and missionary life. They are now happy to work in communion and to collaborate with local priests and bishops, knowing full well that “the common cause of the Kingdom of God closely associates one and the other group of evangelical messengers for an always necessary and undoubtedly collaboration fruitful… and their harmonious coordination is also, and indeed must be, an exemplary expression of ecclesial communion” (Pauli VI, “Nuntius scripto datus missionali rei provehendae missus, ob diem per totum catholicum orbem celebrandum id est 21 octobris, huius ispius anni», die 20 iul. 1973: Teachings of Paul VI, XI [1973] 738).

With the Second Vatican Council, a new season opened in the always fascinating history of missionary activity. Since the Church is missionary by nature and every particular Church is called to reproduce in itself the image of the universal Church, the new Churches are also invited to “participate as soon as possible and in practice in the universal mission of the Church, also sending ‘they are missionaries to preach the Gospel everywhere in the world, even if they suffer from a lack of clergy. Communion with the universal Church will in a certain sense reach its perfection only when they too take an active part in the missionary effort directed towards other nations” (Ad Gentes, 20). And this missionary spirit must above all be animated by priests,

II – The Society of Saint Peter the Apostle: for a Hundred Years at the Service of the Local Clergy

This year marks the centenary of the foundation of the Pontifical Society of Saint Peter the Apostle: just as the Society of the Propagation of the Faith was born from the ardent heart of Pauline Jaricot, so it was from the love and sacrifice of two other women, Stefania and Giovanna Bigard, mother and daughter, who started this other fundamental missionary initiative. The spark was lit by a letter from Monsignor Gousin, Bishop of Nagasaki, who on 1 June 1889 wrote to the Bigards, who had already been his benefactors and collaborators, that he was forced to deny entry into the seminary to young people who wished to become priests, for lack of the means necessary for their training. The Bigard ladies caught in that letter the call of God’s will, a call that radically changed their lives. Thus, they became the tireless beggars of help for the aspirants to the priesthood, who in the mission countries increasingly knocked on the doors of the seminaries. The two generous women experienced difficulties of all kinds, but did not give up on their commitment; they faithfully absolved him until her death, having the joy of seeing the Work approved and blessed by the Holy See.

One hundred years after its foundation, it retains its value intact in view of the purpose that gave rise to it: “to make the Christian people aware of the problem of the formation of the local clergy in mission Churches and to invite them to collaborate spiritually and materially in the preparation of candidates to the priesthood” (“Statutes of the Pontifical Mission Societies”, 15).

The Society of Saint Peter the Apostle, which I dutifully wished to mention and would like to recommend in this message, has largely contributed to the development of the local clergy and continues to play an important role, through the help it offers so that in the young Churches the seminaries, formation centers and centers of higher studies can welcome and adequately prepare native vocations for the commitments of the apostolate.

While I sincerely thank those who, with their prayers and their donations, participate in the programs of the Work, I invite everyone to praise the Lord for the marvels he has accomplished using Stefania and Giovanna Bigard, who consecrated themselves to the missionary cause with total dedication. The Church, which – as I wrote in the apostolic letter “Mulieris Dignitatem” – “gives thanks for all the manifestations of the feminine ‘genius’ that has appeared in the course of history”, (31), cannot fail to magnify the Lord considering the fruits of evangelization and of sanctity matured by the Work started by the Bigard ladies.

III – All Members of the Church must Commit Themselves to Promoting Priestly and Missionary Vocations and to Proclaiming the Gospel

The Work of Saint Peter the Apostle recalls the irreplaceable fiction that is reserved for the clergy in the evangelizing mission. Christian communities need his pastoral service to be guided in their life of faith and to be formed in the missionary spirit.

The most important challenge that the universal mission poses to the whole Church is that of vocations in the various expressions in which they can be realized, that is, in priestly, religious and lay life. “For the evangelization of the world, evangelizers are needed first of all. For this reason,, everyone, starting with Christian families, must feel the responsibility of encouraging the emergence and maturation of specifically missionary vocations, both priestly and religious, and lay, resorting to every appropriate means, without ever neglecting the privileged means of prayer, according to the very word of the Lord Jesus: “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few! Ask the owner of the harvest, therefore, to send laborers into his harvest” (Mt 9:37-38) (Christifideles Laici, 35).

The current situation – I recalled in the same apostolic letter on the vocation and mission of the laity – postulates that, with regard to the duty to proclaim the Gospel, every disciple of the Lord feels called in the first person: “Woe to me if I do not preach the Gospel! » (1 Cor 9:16). The lay faithful are qualified and committed to this task by the sacraments of Christian initiation and by the gifts of the Holy Spirit (cf. “Christifideles Laici”, 33).

In the perspective of the participation of the laity in the universal mission of the Church, it is not a reason for joy and hope that two of the four Pontifical Mission Societies, namely the Society for the Propagation of the Faith and the Society of Saint Peter the Apostle, have been founded by laymen, and precisely by women ardent with zeal for the Kingdom of God?

IV – The Permanent Service of Animation and Formation of the Pontifical Mission Societies

Although I have insisted on the activity of the Society of Saint Peter the Apostle, on the occasion of the centenary of its foundation, I cannot conclude the message without also recommending the other Missionary Societies: the Propagation of the Faith, Holy Childhood and the Missionary Union of Priests, men and women religious, works which are at the service of the Pope and of all the particular Churches.

While carrying out their own distinct activities, they have a common fundamental purpose: to arouse and keep alive in the People of God – pastors and faithful – an intense missionary spirit, which translates into commitment to missionary vocations, to aid for all the missions of the world, so as to meet their ever-increasing requests and needs, with the generous contribution of all Christians.

On this day of universal charity, the Pope speaks out for all the poor of the world; especially the voice of the missionaries, who extend their hand to brothers in the faith and to all men of good will.

Missionaries spend themselves proclaiming the Gospel to the outposts of the mission, which even in our day encounters difficulties and trials and often requires the supreme witness of the gift of one’s life. For this reason, in the name of the whole Church, I address my word of affectionate encouragement to them, so that in their apostolate they may feel accompanied and supported by the presence of the risen Lord, by the power of his Spirit and by the solidarity of the believing community.

All the Lord’s disciples should remember that the Blessed Virgin Mary, Queen of Apostles and Mother of all peoples, is their model and support in their missionary commitment. I entrust to her the missionary activity of the Church and all those who consecrate their lives so that the Kingdom may be proclaimed and the Church implanted in the heart of the world.

To the missionaries and their collaborators, to all who participate in the Church’s missionary work in any way, I cordially impart the Apostolic Blessing, a pledge of divine favors and a sign of my affection and gratitude.

From the Vatican, May 14, the solemnity of Pentecost, in the year 1989, the eleventh of my Pontificate.

JOHN PAUL II

Credit: Dicastery for Communication, to the Holy See