VATICAN - Every Bishop is part of the network of the Pontifical Mission Societies

Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) - "It is important that each Bishop collaborates and cooperates in the work of the Pontifical Society for the Propagation of the Faith (POPF) and establishes a close relationship of communion with the National Director and the diocesan directors of the Pontifical Mission Societies (PMS). Joint action and cooperation bear good fruit. Transparency in the use of ordinary and extraordinary subsidies received by POPF is also important", underlined Fr. Tadeusz Nowak, OMI, Secretary General of the Pontifical Missionary Society for Propagation of the Faith, speaking at the Seminar for new Bishops, organized in Rome by the Dicastery for Evangelization.
During the presentation of the PMS, the Secretary of the POPF briefly recalled that the Society for the Propagation of the Faith (POPF) was created by Blessed Paulina Jaricot and encouraged the participants to visit the website of the International Secretariats of the PMS (www.ppoomm.va), which is available in four languages and contains a wealth of information about the founder, the charism and the work of the PMS.
"The PMS - he explained - is a global network at the service of the Holy Father for the support of the Church in mission lands, and all the bishops are part of this network. A network requires everyone's cooperation and collaboration. Together we are called to pray for the missions and for the Churches in mission lands, to encourage missionary animation among the clergy, the religious and the faithful". "POPF - he added - offers subsidies to the Churches in mission lands to strengthen their ecclesial infrastructures and promote the work of evangelization".
In the following speech, Sister Roberta Tremarelli, General Secretary of the Society of Missionary Childhood, pointed out: "Catechists, religion teachers, priests and parents are the recipients of animation and formation, along with animators of the Missionary Childhood Society and the children themselves". Sister Tremarelli then recalled the areas in which the extraordinary subsidy of the Society are granted: animation and missionary formation; Christian formation; school and preschool education; life protection. In 2021, more than 15 million dollars were approved and allocated in ordinary and extraordinary subsidies to local churches in Africa, Asia, America and Oceania, especially with the aim of "helping the educators to awaken and develop a universal missionary awareness in children and adolescents", to help promote and develop missionary vocations from childhood.
"We try to make children experience the missionary nature of the Church and baptism, and to be motivated to missio ad gentes, also with a view to a future missionary commitment ad vitam", remarked Sister Tremarelli. She then recalled the slogans that summarize the spirit of the Society: "Children pray for children"; "Children evangelize children"; "Children help children around the world", who aim to nurture missionary cooperation in different ways: spiritual, material and with missionary services.
In his speech before the assembly of 80 Bishops from mission lands, Father Guy Bognon presented the Pontifical Society of St. Peter the Apostle (POSPA), founded in 1889 by Jeanne Bigard and her mother Stéphanie, to raise awareness among the Christian people about the question of the formation of the local clergy in the young Churches and to invite all the baptized to collaborate in the preparation of the candidates for the priesthood through spiritual and material help. The Society is directed especially to diocesan and interdiocesan seminaries in Africa, Asia, Latin America and Oceania. It offers financial aid to contribute to the ordinary expenses of the seminaries, such as maintenance, payment of the salaries of workers and lay or religious teachers, and the remuneration of resident or external formator priests. POSPA provided grants to 431 minor seminaries, for a total of 45,815 minor seminarians; 120 preparatory seminaries for a staff of 5,596 preparatory seminarians; 220 major seminaries with a total of 23,071 major seminarians. "In general, POSPA is in contact with about 800 seminaries with a staff of 80,000 seminarians", said Fr. Bognon. In addition to seminaries - he informed - the Society of St. Peter the Apostle also takes care of the Novitiates of the religious congregations, both of diocesan and pontifical right, present in the young churches, benefiting 978 novitiates for a total of 6,891 novices, of which 2,391 are men and 4,400 women.
The subsidies, he noted, can also be extraordinary, for special projects such as the construction or restructuring of chapels, classrooms, dormitories, libraries, toilets, playgrounds, etc. In addition to financial aid, the Society also deals with the quality of formation in seminaries and novitiates, establishing formation programs for formators, and offering scholarships for diocesan priests, to prepare themselves to become formators in seminaries, in Catholic universities. (Agenzia Fides, 7/9/2022)

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