POPE "EMBRACES" THE CHURCH'S MISSIONARIES

VATICAN CITY, MAY 14, 1999 (VIS) - "In welcoming you," the Holy Father told the national directors and staff members of the Pontifical Missionary Works, whom he received in audience this morning, "I wish to embrace all those who work, pray and suffer for the Church's evangelizing mission."

"I am thinking especially," he added, "of those who, in the midst of difficulties of every type, persevere faithfully where the Spirit has sent them, even to the point, at times, of offering up their lives. Let us thank the Lord for this generous witness of theirs, aware as we are that 'sanguis martyrum, semen christianorum'."

The Pope also recalled that today's meeting "takes place in proximity to the Great Jubilee of the Year 2000, the celebration of salvation which the Father has offered to all mankind. It thus comes spontaneously to mind, once again, that 'the mission of Christ the Redeemer, entrusted to the Church, is still far from completion'."

"The theme of your meeting this year," he pointed out, "is 'Missionary Cooperation in the Year 2000: enthusiastic promotion, vocations, personnel, spiritual and material assistance'." He encouraged them in their commitment to promote and form missionaries of the People of God, "a commitment which you already fulfill with great generosity. Among other things, this is shown by the continued increase in your central solidarity fund, made up principally of small contributions from so many people - the 'poor widows' of the Gospel - who offer out of their poverty."

There are four branches of the Pontifical Missionary Works, which come under the jurisdiction of the congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples: Propagation of the Faith, St. Peter Apostle, the Society of the Holy Childhood and the Pontifical Missionary Union.

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Date:;VIS 19990514 (290)Word: ;