Servants and apostles of Jesus Christ

20th Missionary Day

Dear brothers and sisters, “duc in altum”! Let us set out into the vast sea of the world and, accepting Jesus' invitation, cast our nets without fear, confident in his constant help. Saint Paul reminds us that proclaiming the Gospel is not a title of glory (cf. 1 Color 9, 16), but a task and a joy.

THE Bishop…is called to go out and meet those who are far away, those who do not yet know Christ, or who have not yet experienced his liberating love; their commitment consists in making the entire diocesan community missionary, willingly contributing, according to their possibilities, to sending priests and lay people to other Churches for the service of evangelization. Thus, the missio ad gentes It becomes the unifying and converging principle of all its pastoral and charitable activity.

You, dear ones elders…be generous pastors and enthusiastic evangelizers! Not a few of you, throughout these decades, have gone to mission territories… I pray that this missionary zeal in the local Churches will not wane, despite the shortage of clergy that afflicts many of them.

And you, beloved religious men and women, Those characterized by a vocation with a strong missionary connotation, take the message of the Gospel to everyone, especially those who are far away, through a consistent witness to Christ and a radical following of his Gospel.

All of you, dear faithful laypeople You who work in various spheres of society are called to participate in the spread of the Gospel in an increasingly relevant way. Thus, a complex and multifaceted areopagus opens before you to be evangelized: the world. Bear witness with your own lives to the fact that Christians “belong to a new society, towards which they are journeying and which, in their pilgrimage, is anticipated.”

(Pope Benedict XVI, message of the year 2008)