Pope Francis' Mission Message

On May 12, 2022 Pope Francis sent a message to greet the Congregatio de Propaganda Fidei on its 400th Anniversary of its foundation. On this occasion, Pope Francis also beatified Pauline Jaricot who was the founder of the Society of the Congregation of the Faith. It was in 1922 that Pope Pius XI had added the word "Pontifical." The purpose of the Society of the Propagation of the Faith is to open the hearts of every Christian the vastness of the missionary horizon.

Pope Francis mentioned three elements that contributed to the spread of the Gospel through the Pontifical Mission Societies. The first is missionary conversion. The Pope said that "that the goodness of the mission depends on the path of going out of oneself." He meant that mission is centered on Jesus. It is centered on one's life in Jesus rather than centering on oneself. Pope Francis honors Blessed Pauline Jaricot saying that her existence as a response to God's compassionate and tender mercy. Since her youth she had sought identification with her Lord, including through the suffering with the aim of igniting the flame of her love in every person. According to Pope Francis, the ardor of faith that does not depend on conversion would just remain as an imitation.

The second element is prayer. It is a form of mission and this was practiced by Blessed Pauline Jaricot through the Living Rosary which she organized for the first time in 1826. Mission can never be accomplished without it. The Living Rosary is a form of evangelization. Pope Francis says that mission and all forms of evangelization are accomplished through prayer because it is the Holy Spirit precedes and enables all our good works: "the primacy is always of His grace." Otherwise, the Pope says, the mission would be a question of running in vain.

The third element is the concreteness of charity. The support of the entire Church is a necessary element in the accomplishment of the mission. Mission cannot be accomplished without the tangible help of the Church. According to Pope Francis, Blessed Pauline Jaricot gave rise to a collection of offerings in a vast scale in a creative form, accompanying it with information on the life and activities of the missionaries. He said that the offerings of so many humble people were providential for the history of missions.