Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Rome (Agenzia Fides) - On the occasion of the 65th anniversary of Pope Pius XII's missionary encyclical "Fidei Donum", the Missionary Center of the Diocese of Rome, in collaboration with Caritas Rome and the Migrantes Office, organized a conference to celebrate the anniversary, to "reinterpret the challenges of mission and highlight the beauty of being sent". As Sister Elisa Kidane, Comboni Missionary and Director of the Mission Center of the Diocese of Roma explains, "at the conference we will hear the living testimonies of those who have concretely lived the spirit of the encyclical, which, for the evangelical courage it contains, is known as the Magna Carta of the Mission matters". The encyclical, published on April 21, 1957, called all people to take on the great task of proclaiming to the world the coming of the Kingdom of God, and particularly encouraged diocesan priests to set out on their journey. "This text aroused great enthusiasm among priests and lay people," notes Sister Elisa, "who saw in this opportunity to 'go out' and not ad vitam, but to experience the joy of sharing their faith with to share with other peoples and other churches". Today, 65 years later, and with the Second Vatican Council which has also strengthened the missionary spirit, with the various missionary encyclicals which have always revived the courage to go out of one's own country, and the enthusiastic response of so many dioceses who scattered across the borders of the earth, "we feel the need to reawaken and revitalize the passion, the wonder, the generosity of the kerygma," the nun stresses. "Strengthened by this wonderful legacy, we felt it important to seize this unique opportunity to reread this encyclical, reprint it and hand it over to the generations of today and to those to come", concludes Sister Kidane. (SL) (Agenzia Fides, 8/6/2022)
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