Wednesday, December 11, 2024

Popular News

HomeNewsVaticanPope at Angelus: Every baptized person cooperates in the proclamation of the...

Pope at Angelus: Every baptized person cooperates in the proclamation of the Word

On World Mission Day, Pope Francis renews the call for a missionary commitment on the part of the whole Church.

By Christopher Wells

World Mission Day “is a good opportunity for every baptized person to become more aware of the need to cooperate in proclaiming the Kingdom of God through a renewed commitment”, Pope Francis said at the Angelus on Sunday.

The Holy Father reflected on a passage from the second Reading in the Mass of the Day: “Preach the Word, be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke, and encourage – with great patience and careful instruction”, taken from St Paul’s Second Letter to St Timothy. “The tone is heartfelt,” Pope Francis said. “Timothy must feel responsible for the proclamation of the Word”.

A new impetus

He referred back to the Apostolic Letter Maximum illud, promulgated by Pope Benedict XV, which gave a “new impetus to the missionary responsibility of the whole Church”. Pope Francis said that, “in today’s changed context, Benedict XV’s message is still relevant and stimulates us to overcome the temptation of any self-referential closure and any form of pastoral pessimism, in order to open ourselves to the joyful novelty of the Gospel”.

Pope Francis said that this means “hearing strongly the call to the mission towards all peoples and towards all those who, here among us, live on the margins”. He warned that living fraternity “only in our own closed circle means to suffocate the Spirit, who unites us to proclaim to all that Christ is our peace and in Him every division is overcome, in Him alone there is the salvation of every person and all peoples”.

Prayer, the indispensable condition for mission

He then reminded us of the “indispensable condition” for “living the mission to the full”, namely, prayer “a fervent and incessant prayer, according to the teaching of Jesus proclaimed in today’s Gospel as well, in which He tells a parable on the need to ‘pray always, and not give up’”, the Pope said. “Prayer, he continued, “is the first support the People of God can give missionaries”.

World Mission Day, he said, “is also a good occasion to ask ourselves, Do I pray for missionaries? Do I pray for those who go far away to bring the Word of God with their witness?”

Pope Francis concluded his reflection with the prayer that “Mary, Mother of all nations, might accompany and protect the missionaries of the Gospel every day”.

Popular News

Pope on Human Rights Day: ‘War deprives people of their basic rights’

Marking Human Rights Day, Pope Francis urges government leaders to listen to the cry...

Cardinal Parolin expresses hopes for future of all in Syria

The Cardinal Secretary of State is in Milan, Italy, for an event at the...

Pope Francis sends blessings to Rwanda’s Eucharistic Congress

Pope Francis sends blessings, prayers, and encouragement to the Rwandan Church for their Eucharistic...

Pope pays homage to Mary at statue of Immaculate Conception

On Sunday afternoon on the Immaculate Conception, Pope Francis pays homage to the Blessed...