After reciting the Angelus, Pope Francis mentioned the 96th World Mission Day, which took place that day. Fr Pizzoli explained to this news network that the way of preaching has changed, but the desire of the Church to evangelize the peoples remains the same.
(Vatican News Network) The Universal Church celebrated World Mission Day on Sunday, October 23, “an important occasion for all baptized people to arouse their desire to participate in the Church’s universal mission by witnessing and proclaiming the Gospel”. After reciting the Angelus that day, Pope Francis reminded Christians with these words, encouraging them to support missionaries with prayer and concrete care, helping them to continue their evangelization work around the world.
The theme of this year’s World Mission Day is: “You will be my witnesses” (Acts 1:8). In a statement to this effect, the Pope wrote: “Because Christ was sent first as an ambassador of the Father, he is therefore a ‘faithful witness’. Every Christian is therefore called to be an ambassador and witness of Christ. People. The church, as a body of disciples of Christ, has no other mission than to evangelize the world and testify for Christ. The identity of the church is to preach the gospel.” (No. 1)
Father Giuseppe Pizzoli, director of the Italian Mission Foundation, explained to this news network the changes that have taken place in the mission of the Church. He said that since the Second Vatican Council, mission has been regarded as the soul of the Church and is no longer a European-centered mission, that is, not only missionaries from Europe to the world, but also from Latin Missionaries who set out from the Americas to Africa, or from Africa to Asia, gave missionary a universal air.
Fr Pizzoli stressed that the Church is often accused of being colonial, arguing that only European culture is suitable for evangelism. Today, the Church recognizes that the message of Jesus can also be manifested in different cultures because, “The Holy Spirit goes before us, and when we missionaries arrive in a place and talk about Jesus Christ for the first time, we discover the spirit of the Gospel has arrived before us.” In fact, the Second Vatican Council recognized that in every culture there are seeds of the Holy Word.
Does Europe also need to receive the preaching of the Gospel? On this issue, Fr Pizzoli said, “We have developed an idea that Europe does not need missionaries, but only catechesis.” However, things have changed and the Church has come to understand over time that she has a missionary character and that missionary spirit must be inscribed in her whole life and actions. Everything must be the proclamation of Jesus Christ.
Referring to the theme of this year’s World Mission Day “You will be witnesses to me”, Fr Pizzoli believes that this vocation involves the daily life of all Christians and that each Christian should reflect in his own real life and environment come out. “We are all called to be witnesses of Jesus, but Jesus also said ‘to the ends of the earth’: in this universal breath some have a special calling to be sent by their groups, their churches, to bring the Gospel to the ends of the earth”.
Link website: www.vaticannews.cn