Pope meets Pontifical Mission Societies

May 09, 2014 - ‎An outgoing Church, renewed and transformed by contemplation and a personal contact with Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit, is what is needed in order to evangelize in our age that is marked by great social changes. Pope Francis made the observation in an address to some ‎200 participants in the annual general assembly of national directors of the Pontifical Mission Societies (PMS) under the Vatican Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples. The Pope urged the societies to find new ways, creative methods and various forms of expressions to evangelize today’s world. He stressed that the Church, that is missionary by her very nature, has the fundamental prerogative to serve all in charity. But evangelization, that must reach all, he said, must however begin with the least, the poor and those who backs are bent with the burden and struggle of life. For this the Pope said, we need courage to reach out to the peripheries to those who need the light of the Gospel. In fact, he noted, the Church is the people of the beatitudes, the home of the poor, of the afflicted, the excluded, the persecuted and those who hunger and thirst for justice.
The four Pontifical Mission Societies - the Society for Propagation of the Faith, the Society of St. Peter Apostle, the Holy Childhood Association and the Pontifical Missionary Union ‎- are charged with fostering missionary spirit and support among the faithful in the Church.