The Pontifical Mission Societies: Spreading the Gospel throughout the worldJesus Torres: "Africa evangelized me".The presentation of the World Mission 2023 (World Mission Sunday) was conducted by José María Calderón, director of OMP Spain, and Saturnino Pasero, a missionary priest in the Republic of Benin for almost 40 years.
The World Mission Sunday will be celebrated this year on Sunday, October 22, that is, the penultimate Sunday of October, as has been customary since 1926. Besides being a day to pray especially for the missions around the world, a specific collection for missionaries is also carried out during this day.
The World Mission Sunday is organized by Obras Misionales Pontificias Pontificias, present in Spain since 1839 and converted into "Obras del Papa" ("Pontifical Works") by Pope Pius XI in 1922.
Currently, the Church has 1122 mission territories to which donations can be sent. The funds collected worldwide on World Mission Sunday are administered by the Holy See, which distributes them among the different dioceses according to their needs.
In total, in 2022, 61,895,833.88 Euros were collected (the largest contribution came from Europe with 29,287,630.38 Euros, followed by America with 23,167,792.69 Euros, Asia with 6,668,792.85 Euros, Africa 2,127,789.79 and Oceania with 643,828.15).
"More than half of the Catholic schools are in the missions. The Church builds an average of 2 social institutions and 6 educational institutions per day in the missions", report the Pontifical Mission Societies.
Spain: second largest donor country
Moreover, Spain is the second largest contributor to the missions, behind only the United States. "The Spanish people are very generous," said José María Calderón. Even in times of difficulty, such as the pandemic, the contribution hardly dropped, to the point that "Monsignor Dal Toso, who was then the president of the PMS, wrote to Cardinal Omella thanking the Spanish Church for having maintained what was collected," said the director of PMS this morning. Moreover, it is one of the countries with the most missionaries in the world: at present, 10,000 missionaries are Spanish.
During the presentation of the World Mission Sunday, the priest Saturnino Pasero shared his testimony of 37 years as a missionary in Benin, where he arrived in 1980 at the age of 24, responding "to the call to be present in areas where the Gospel had not yet been proclaimed".
Muslims pay homage to John Paul II
Saturnino Pasero commented that, when he arrived in Benin, practically the only foreigners there were the missionaries of the Catholic Church, apart from the ambassadors. Their work consisted of proclaiming Jesus Christ in areas of practically first evangelization, with no Christian presence. Besides, Benin is a country with a Muslim majority, although the missionary commented that the coexistence with the Muslims in his area is peaceful, and that, in fact, when St. John Paul II died, in the Eucharist that the missionaries celebrated in thanksgiving for his life, there were more Muslims than Christians (among them, many imams), since they wanted to pay homage to the Pope who had visited them. During the trip that St. John Paul II made to Benin in 1993, he had a meeting with the Muslims.
The motto for this year's World Mission Sunday, "Burning Hearts, Feet on the Way," has been chosen by Pope Francis, as has been customary since 2019. As OMP points out, "the history of the Church is woven by burning hearts that, like the disciples of Emmaus, encounter the living and risen Jesus, and immediately set out to proclaim him to those who do not yet know him."
José María Calderón stressed that, in addition to financial contributions, another very important way of helping the missions is through prayer. In fact, one of the patronesses of the missions, St. Therese of Lisieux, was a cloistered nun. OMP indicates that "more than 60,000 sick missionaries offer their pain and suffering for the missions" and "more than 700 contemplative convents pray for the missions in Spain".
