MESSAGE OF HIS HOLINESS POPE FRANCIS
FOR WORLD MISSION DAY 2022
“You shall be my witnesses” (Acts 1:8)
Dear brothers and sisters!
These words were spoken by the Risen Jesus to
his disciples just before his Ascension into
heaven, as we learn from the Acts of the
Apostles: “You shall receive power when the Holy
Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be my
witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and
Samaria and to the ends of the earth” (1:8).
They are also the theme of the 2022 World
Mission Day which, as always, reminds us that
the Church is missionary by nature. This year
World Mission Day offers us the opportunity to
commemorate several important events in the
Church’s life and mission: the fourth centenary
of the founding of the Congregation de
Propaganda Fide, now the Congregation for the
Evangelization of Peoples, and the second
centenary of the Society of the Propagation of
the Faith. A hundred years ago, the latter,
together with the Society of the Holy Childhood
and the Society of Saint Peter the Apostle, was
granted the title “Pontifical”.
Let us reflect on the three key phrases that
synthesize the three foundations of the life and
mission of every disciple: “You shall be my
witnesses”, “to the ends of the earth” and “you
shall receive the power of the Holy Spirit”.
1. “You shall be my witnesses” – The call of
every Christian to bear witness to Christ
This is the central point, the heart of Jesus’
teaching to the disciples, in view of their
being sent forth into the world. The disciples
are to be witnesses of Jesus, thanks to the
grace of the Holy Spirit that they will receive.
Wherever they go and in whatever place they find
themselves. Christ was the first to be sent, as
a “missionary” of the Father (cf. Jn 20:21), and
as such, he is the Father’s “faithful witness”
(cf. Rev 1:5). In a similar way, every Christian
is called to be a missionary and witness to
Christ.
And the Church, the community of Christ’s
disciples, has no other mission than that of
bringing the Gospel to the entire world by
bearing witness to Christ.
To evangelize is the very identity of the
Church.
A deeper look at the words, “You shall be my
witnesses”, can clarify a few ever timely
aspects of the mission Christ entrusted to the
disciples. The plural form of the verb
emphasizes the communitarian and ecclesial
nature of the disciples’ missionary vocation.
Each baptized person is called to mission, in
the Church and by the mandate of the Church:
consequently, mission is carried out together,
not individually, in communion with the
ecclesial community, and not on one’s own
initiative. Even in cases where an individual in
some very particular situation carries out the
evangelizing mission alone, he must always do so
in communion with the Church which commissioned
him. As Saint Paul VI taught in the Apostolic
Exhortation Evangelii Nuntiandi, a document dear
to my heart: “Evangelization is for no one an
individual and isolated act; it is one that is
deeply ecclesial. When the most obscure
preacher, catechist or pastor in the most
distant land preaches the Gospel, gathers his
little community together or administers a
sacrament, even alone, he is carrying out an
ecclesial act, and his action is certainly
attached to the evangelizing activity of the
whole Church by institutional relationships, but
also by profound invisible links in the order of
grace. This presupposes that he acts not in
virtue of a mission which he attributes to
himself or by a personal inspiration, but in
union with the mission of the Church and in her
name” (No. 60). Indeed, it was no coincidence
that the Lord Jesus sent his disciples out on
mission in pairs; the witness of Christians to
Christ is primarily communitarian in nature.
Hence, in carrying out the mission, the presence
of a community, regardless of its size, is of
fundamental importance.
In addition, the disciples are urged to live
their personal lives in a missionary key: they
are sent by Jesus to the world not only to carry
out, but also and above all to live the mission
entrusted to them; not only to bear witness, but
also and above all to be witnesses of Christ.
In the moving words of the Apostle Paul,
“[we are] always carrying in the body the death
of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be
manifested in our bodies” (2 Cor 4:10). The
essence of the mission is to bear witness to
Christ, that is, to his life, passion, death and
resurrection for the love of the Father and of
humanity. Not by chance did the apostles look
for Judas’ replacement among those who, like
themselves, had been witnesses of the Lord’s
resurrection (cf. Acts 1:21). Christ, indeed
Christ risen from the dead, is the One to whom
we must testify and whose life we must share.
Missionaries of Christ are not sent to
communicate themselves, to exhibit their
persuasive qualities and abilities or their
managerial skills. Instead, theirs is the
supreme honour of presenting Christ in words and
deeds, proclaiming to everyone the Good News of
his salvation, as the first apostles did, with
joy and boldness.
In the final analysis, then, the true witness is
the “martyr”, the one who gives his or her life
for Christ, reciprocating the gift that he has
made to us of himself. “The primary reason for
evangelizing is the love of Jesus which we have
received, the experience of salvation which
urges us to ever greater love of him” (Evangelii
Gaudium, 264).
Finally, when it comes to Christian witness, the
observation of Saint Paul VI remains ever valid:
“Modern man listens more willingly to witnesses
than to teachers, and if he does listen to
teachers, it is because they are witnesses” (Evangelii
Nuntiandi, 41). For this reason, the testimony
of an authentic Christian life is fundamental
for the transmission of the faith. On the other
hand, the task of proclaiming Christ’s person
and the message is equally necessary. Indeed,
Paul VI went on to say: “Preaching, the verbal
proclamation of a message, is indeed always
indispensable…
The word remains ever relevant,
especially when it is the bearer of the power of
God. This is why Saint Paul’s axiom, “Faith
comes from what is heard” (Rom 10:17), also
retains its relevance: it is the word that is
heard which leads to belief” (ibid., 42).
In evangelization, then, the example of a
Christian life and the proclamation of Christ
are inseparable. One is at the service of the
other. They are the two lungs with which any
community must breathe, if it is to be
missionary. This kind of complete, consistent
and joyful witness to Christ will surely be a
force of attraction also for the growth of the
Church in the third millennium. I exhort
everyone to take up once again the courage,
frankness and parrhesía of the first Christians,
in order to bear witness to Christ in word and
deed in every area of life.
2. “To the ends of the earth” – The perennial
relevance of a mission of universal
evangelization
In telling the disciples to be his witnesses,
the risen Lord also tells them where they are
being sent: “…in Jerusalem and in all Judea and
Samaria and to the ends of the earth” (Acts
1:8). Here we clearly see the universal
character of the disciples’ mission. We also see
the “centrifugal” geographical expansion, as if
in concentric circles, of the mission, beginning
with Jerusalem, which Jewish tradition
considered the centre of the world, to Judea and
Samaria and to “the ends of the earth”. The
disciples are sent not to proselytize, but to
proclaim; the Christian does not proselytize.
The Acts of the Apostles speak of this
missionary expansion and provide a striking
image of the Church “going forth” in fidelity to
her call to bear witness to Christ the Lord and
guided by divine providence in the concrete
conditions of her life.
Persecuted in Jerusalem and then spread
throughout Judea and Samaria, the first
Christians bore witness to Jesus everywhere (cf.
Acts 8:1, 4).
Something similar still happens in our own day.
Due to religious persecution and situations of
war and violence, many Christians are forced to
flee from their homelands to other countries. We
are grateful to these brothers and sisters who
do not remain locked in their own suffering but
bear witness to Christ and to the love of God in
the countries that accept them. Hence, Saint
Paul VI encouraged them to recognize the
“responsibility incumbent on immigrants in the
country that receives them” (Evangelii Nuntiandi,
21). More and more, we are seeing how the
presence of faithful of various nationalities
enriches the face of parishes and makes them
more universal, more Catholic. Consequently, the
pastoral care of migrants should be valued as an
important missionary activity that can also help
the local faithful to rediscover the joy of the
Christian faith they have received.
The words “to the ends of the earth” should
challenge the disciples of Jesus in every age
and impel them to press beyond familiar places
in bearing witness to him. For all the benefits
of modern travel, there are still geographical
areas in which missionary witnesses of Christ
have not arrived to bring the Good News of his
love. Then too no human reality is foreign to
the concern of the disciples of Jesus in their
mission. Christ’s Church will continue to “go
forth” towards new geographical, social and
existential horizons, towards “borderline”
places and human situations, in order to bear
witness to Christ and his love to men and women
of every people, culture and social status.
In this sense, the mission will always be
a missio ad gentes, as the Second Vatican
Council taught. The Church must constantly keep
pressing forward, beyond her own confines, in
order to testify to all the love of Christ. Here
I would like to remember and express my
gratitude for all those many missionaries who
gave their lives in order to “press on” in
incarnating Christ’s love towards all the
brothers and sisters whom they met.
3. “You will receive power” from the Holy Spirit
– Let us always be strengthened and guided by
the Spirit.
When the risen Christ commissioned the disciples
to be his witnesses, he also promised them the
grace needed for this great responsibility: “You
shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has
come upon you; and you shall be my witnesses”
(Acts 1:8). According to the account in Acts, it
was precisely following the descent of the Holy
Spirit on the disciples that the first act of
witnessing to the crucified and risen Christ
took place. That kerygmatic proclamation – Saint
Peter’s “missionary” address to the inhabitants
of Jerusalem – inaugurated an era in which the
disciples of Jesus evangelized the world.
Whereas they had previously been weak, fearful
and closed in on themselves, the Holy Spirit
gave them the strength, courage and wisdom to
bear witness to Christ before all.
Just as “no one can say ‘Jesus is Lord’, except
by the Holy Spirit” (1 Cor 12:3), so no
Christian is able to bear full and genuine
witness to Christ the Lord without the Spirit’s
inspiration and assistance. All Christ’s
missionary disciples are called to recognize the
essential importance of the Spirit’s work, to
dwell in his presence daily and to receive his
unfailing strength and guidance. Indeed, it is
precisely when we feel tired, unmotivated or
confused that we should remember to have
recourse to the Holy Spirit in prayer. Let me
emphasize once again that prayer plays a
fundamental role in the missionary life, for it
allows us to be refreshed and strengthened by
the Spirit as the inexhaustible divine source of
renewed energy and joy in sharing Christ’s life
with others. “Receiving the joy of the Spirit is
a grace. Moreover, it is the only force that
enables us to preach the Gospel and to confess
our faith in the Lord” (Message to the
Pontifical Mission Societies, 21 May 2020).
The Spirit, then, is the true protagonist
of mission. It is he who gives us the right
word, at the right time, and in the right way.
In light of this action of the Holy Spirit, we
also want to consider the missionary
anniversaries to be celebrated in 2022. The
establishment of the Sacred Congregation De
Propaganda Fide in 1622 was motivated by the
desire to promote the missionary mandate in new
territories. A providential insight! The
Congregation proved to be crucial for setting
the Church’s evangelizing mission truly free
from interference by worldly powers, in order to
establish those local Churches which today
display such great vigour. It is our hope that,
as in its past four centuries, the Congregation,
with the light and strength of the Spirit, will
continue and intensify its work of coordinating,
organizing and promoting the Church’s missionary
activities.
The same Spirit who guides the universal Church
also inspires ordinary men and women for
extraordinary missions. Thus it was that a young
French woman, Pauline Jaricot, founded the
Society for the Propagation of the Faith exactly
two hundred years ago. Her beatification will be
celebrated in this jubilee year. Albeit in poor
health, she accepted God’s inspiration to
establish a network of prayer and collection for
missionaries, so that the faithful could
actively participate in the mission “to the ends
of the earth”. This brilliant idea gave rise to
the annual celebration of World Mission Day, in
which the funds collected in local communities
are applied to the universal fund with which the
Pope supports missionary activity.
In this regard, I think too of the French Bishop
Charles de Forbin-Janson, who established the
Association of the Holy Childhood to promote the
mission among children, with the motto “Children
evangelize children, children pray for children,
children help children the world over”. I also
think of Jeanne Bigard, who inaugurated the
Society of Saint Peter the Apostle for the
support of seminarians and priests in mission
lands. Those three Mission Societies were
recognized as “Pontifical” exactly a hundred
years ago. It was also under the inspiration and
guidance of the Holy Spirit that Blessed Paolo
Manna, born 150 years ago, founded the
present-day Pontifical Missionary Union, to
raise awareness and encourage missionary spirit
among priests, men and women religious and the
whole people of God. Saint Paul VI himself was
part of this latter Society, and gave it papal
recognition. I mention these four Pontifical
Mission Societies for their great historical
merits, but also to encourage you to rejoice
with them, in this special year, for the
activities they carry out in support of the
mission of evangelization in the Church, both
universal and local. It is my hope that the
local Churches will find in these Societies a
sure means for fostering the missionary spirit
among the People of God.
Dear brothers and sisters, I continue to dream
of a completely missionary Church, and a new era
of missionary activity among Christian
communities. I repeat Moses’ great desire for
the people of God on their journey: “Would that
all the Lord’s people were prophets!” (Num
11:29). Indeed, would that all of us in the
Church were what we already are by virtue of
baptism: prophets, witnesses, missionaries of
the Lord, by the power of the Holy Spirit, to
the ends of the earth! Mary, Queen of the
Missions, pray for us!
Rome, Saint John Lateran, 6 January 2022,
Solemnity of the Epiphany of the Lord
FRANCIS
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