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Cultivating and appreciating communion, unity, and universality in the Church are crucial, Pope Leo XVI said in a May 22 address to those who came to Rome from more than 120 countries for the Pontifical Mission Societies’ General Assembly.
He thanked the participants for their missionary-oriented work, “which is indispensable to the Church’s mission of evangelization, as I can personally attest from my own pastoral experience in the years of my ministry serving in Peru. The Pontifical Mission Societies are effectively the ‘primary means’ of awakening missionary responsibility among all the baptized and supporting ecclesial communities in areas where the Church is young.”
The Pope noted the societies’ efforts include cultivating missionary vocations, providing pastoral and catechical program aid in mission territories, and caring for children’s basic needs and protection.
“The promotion of apostolic zeal among the People of God remains an essential aspect of the Church’s renewal as envisioned by the Second Vatican Council, and is all the more urgent in our own day,” Pope Leo said. “Our world, wounded by war, violence and injustice, needs to hear the Gospel message of God’s love and to experience the reconciling power of Christ’s grace.”
Catholics are called to bring Christ and the Gospel’s message of peace to all people, and the Pontifical Mission Societies play an important role in this mission, he said. He requested that the Societies’ National Directors prioritize visiting dioceses, parishes, and communities to witness to the importance of mission work around the world.
Pope Leo then offered a theological reflection on communion and universality, which he said are two elements of the identity of the Societies.
The societies “are called to cultivate and further promote within your members the vision of the Church as the communion of believers, enlivened by the Holy Spirit, who enables us to enter into the perfect communion and harmony of the blessed Trinity,” he said.
“Indeed, it is in the Trinity that all things find their unity,” he continued. “This dimension of our Christian life and mission is close to my heart, and is reflected in the words of Saint Augustine that I chose for my episcopal service and now for my papal ministry: In Illo uno unum. Christ is our Saviour and in Him we are one, a family of God, beyond the rich variety of our languages, cultures and experiences.”
He emphasized the importance of focusing on and engaging with the Church’s universality, rather than only with one’s local church communities.
“The appreciation of our communion as members of the Body of Christ naturally opens us to the universal dimension of the Church’s mission of evangelization,” Pope Leo said, “and inspires us to transcend the confines of our individual parishes, dioceses and nations, in order to share with every nation and people the surpassing richness of the knowledge of Jesus Christ.”
“A renewed focus on the Church’s unity and universality corresponds precisely to the authentic charism of the Pontifical Mission Societies,” he said. “As such, it should inspire the process of renewal of the statutes that you have initiated. In this regard, I express my trust that this process will confirm the members of the Societies worldwide in their vocation to be a leaven of missionary zeal within the People of God.”
Pope Leo’s full address can be read here.