Sister Roberta TremarelliMissions take us out of individualism to live fully our condition as baptized persons".World Mission Day. Sowing in tears"Of me you shall be witnesses", the evangelizing mission of every believerAccording to information provided by the Fides AgencyIn 2022, eighteen missionaries have been killed. In total, 12 priests, 3 religious, 1 religious, 1 seminarian and 1 layman. The greatest number of victims is in Africa, where 7 priests and 2 religious have died. Specifically, the murders took place in Mozambique, Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Tanzania.
Latin America is the country with the next highest number of victims, as 4 priests, 1 religious, 1 seminarian and 1 layman were murdered there. The countries where the attacks took place were Mexico, Honduras, Bolivia and Haiti. On the other hand, in Asia, specifically in Vietnam, a priest was murdered.
Although not much is known about the circumstances of the deaths, the reports and news obtained by Agenzia Fides show that these witnesses to the faith were not on extraordinary missions, but were carrying out their daily pastoral work "in particularly difficult contexts, marked by violence, misery, lack of justice and lack of respect for human life".
In the full report The document offers a brief biography of this year's victims and a comparison of the murders over the years. This document also offers data such as the number of missionaries killed between 2001 and 2022 (544 in total) and the activities that the missionaries were carrying out when the deaths occurred.
Witnesses of Christ
The report specifies that the term ".missionary"This does not apply exclusively to those missionaries "ad gentes", but includes any baptized person since "by virtue of the Baptism received, every member of the People of God becomes a missionary disciple. Every baptized person, whatever his function in the Church or knowledge of the faith, is an active subject of evangelization" (EG 120)".
In addition to this consideration by Fides, there is the affirmation made by the Pope Francis during the World Mission DayThe disciples are asked to live their personal lives in the key of mission. Jesus sends them into the world not only to carry out the mission, but also and above all to live the mission entrusted to them; not only to bear witness, but also and above all to be his witnesses... The essence of the mission is to bear witness to Christ, that is, to his life, passion, death and resurrection, out of love for the Father and for humanity".
