MESSAGE FROM PONTIFICAL COMMISSION FOR HISPANIC-AMERICAN DAY

VATICAN CITY, FEB 28, 2003 (VIS) - Made public today was the annual Message from the presidency of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America on the occasion of Hispanic-American Day which is traditionally celebrated in early March in the dioceses of Spain and is dedicated to their sister churches in Latin America. This day will be celebrated on Sunday, March 2, 2003.

The Message is customarily dated January 6, feast of the Epiphany. It is signed by Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, commission president, and Bishop Cipriano Calderon, vice president.

The Message starts by underscoring the missionary mandate that Jesus gave His disciples, quoting Pope Paul VI: "Evangelization is the grace and vocation proper to the Church, her deepest identity. She exists in order to evangelize, that is to say, in order to preach and teach, to be the channel of the gift of grace, to reconcile sinners with God and to perpetuate Christ's sacrifice in the Mass, which is the memorial of His death and glorious resurrection."

It points out that the Church needs evangelizers to fulfill this mission, stating that all baptized are called to this mandate and that "it is up to priests, by their special vocation and nature, to realize this mission in Christ's name." It underscores the priority of prayers for vocations in Latin America and thanks the Churches of Spain that have "generously answered the needs of our brother peoples in Latin America," encouraging them to continue in their "affective and effective solidarity"

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