EDITORIAL
Dear readers,
we are already in October, the month of the mission, our month par excellence. The PIME Center in Milan, of which this magazine is an expression, experiences it with strong moments, including the evenings dedicated to Annalena Tonelli, lay missionary and martyr, and to Saint Teresa of Lisieux, patron saint of the mission, 150 years after her birth. We are in a month full of important ecclesial moments, starting with the Synod, which opens the Church to everyone’s participation: a Church in which we are all protagonists and missionariesbecause they are clothed with the same baptismal Grace.
This is the first issue I have signed as editorial director. It is a great privilege and honor for me. I know the magazine and its ancient and prestigious history well. I have been an assiduous reader since, at 19, I chose to become a missionary. When I reached the mission among the Chinese people I became a collaborator. I published the first article 28 years ago, in March 1995, from Taiwan. I still remember the title: “I, a missionary on retreat with the Buddhists”. Then the director was the unforgettable Piero Gheddo. I then saw good directors taking turns at the helm: I would like to remember Giancarlo Politi, a missionary like me in Hong Kong and China. In particular, I thank my immediate predecessor, Mario Ghezzi, who in his latest editorial introduced me with words of esteem and friendship, which I heartily reciprocate.
I really like the name of the magazine, a name that is already a program. World and Mission it is the result of the assiduous and competent work of the editorial team, which I respect and thank. Behind them are the world and the mission. Two words for the same reality: the lives of women and men of our time. We wish to narrate this life, seeing in it, wherever they are, the seeds and light of the Gospel. It is a continuous challenge, which we face with humble awareness.
Last July 22nd, the feast of Saint Mary Magdalene, I wrote a letter to my friends in which I entrusted the new commitment of director to her, the friend, the disciple and the apostle of Jesus. Mary Magdalene is the first missionary; she met the risen Jesus and told the world about it. On that Easter morning, she began the missionary movement of which we are continuers.
But this is above all your magazine, dear readers. Read it and support it. We have no other ambition than to continue to narrate, in our time and to today’s people, the Gospel of peace.