Missionary childhood: "Jenet, Michelle and Íscar represent all the children of the world".The Pontifical Mission Societies held a press conference today at its headquarters in Madrid to inform about the forthcoming Missionary Childhood Day to be held on January 14. The presentation was attended by José María Calderón, director of OMP Spain, Elvira Pillado, a missionary in Tangier, and the young Mateo Méndez, who has participated in several Pontifical Missionary Works camps.
The Day of Missionary Childhood is celebrated all over the world, although with different dates. In Spain it takes place on the Second Sunday in Ordinary Time, which corresponds, in the case of 2024, to January 14.
The work of Infancia Misionera extends to 120 countries and helps more than 4 million children. The contributions collected by this pontifical work support the work and labor of missionaries in 1122 mission territories, with more than 2500 projects of evangelization, formation, health, etc.
More than 12 million euros
During 2022, Missionary Childhood provided more than 12 million euros for 2458 projects around the world. The majority of these funds, more than 7 million, went to the African continent, where there are 1400 projects, followed by Asia, which received more than 4 million. This is followed by the Americas, Oceania and Europe.
All countries contribute in donations, including those that are recipients of aid. In 2023, for example, Togo contributed 25,122.25 euros.
Spain is positioned in 2023 as the country that has contributed the most to Infancia Misionera, with 2,325,225.17 €.
Children are also missionaries
The director of OMP Spain, José María Calderón, emphasized at the beginning of the press conference that Infancia Misionera is not an NGO, but that its mission is for the Church to be present in areas where, without its help, it would be very difficult for it to survive, although it also carries out social projects.
In addition, another of the objectives of Infancia Misionera is to "make children aware that they are also missionaries", and to make adults aware of the need to help the missions financially.
Mateo Méndez, a boy in the first year of ESO who in 2022 visited the camps organized by OMP in Navarra, Spain. There he enjoyed not only the sports and activities that were carried out, but also the prayer when they got up, in which they all gave thanks to God together and prayed for the five continents. "You don't have to go to the Congo to be a missionary," said Mateo, although he recognizes that this is also necessary. However, he commented that small gestures such as praying for the missionaries, or blessing the table on your birthday in front of your friends, also help to spread the Gospel. Mateo also pointed out that being a missionary is not just about doing good deeds, since this can also be done by non-believers. The difference is that a missionary tries to bring Jesus to others.
Finally, Elvira Pillado, a nun of the Congregation of Jesus-Mary and missionary in Tangier, where they attend the nursery "Sacred Heart", for children from 3 to 5 years old whose families cannot afford early childhood education, and the shelter "Dar-Tika" for girls from 6 to 14 years old. The missionary thanked for the aids to be able to continue with these projects and commented that it is a work to which "we must dedicate soul, life and heart".
