RADAR

POPE LEO XIV RELAUNCHES THE MISSION

BY FESMI | (ITALIAN MISSIONARY PRESS FEDERATION)

A MISSIONARY who becomes pope is unprecedented in the Catholic Church. And it is a particular joy for us, missionary communicators, to tell the story of the Church and of the world starting with those, like Robert Francis Prevost, who have accepted as a reason for living the call to ensure that the word of Jesus reaches even the most forgotten periphery of today’s world.

“We must seek together how to be a missionary Church, a Church that builds bridges, dialogue, always open to receiving, like this square with open arms”, said Pope Leo XIV in his first speech from the loggia of St Peter’s Basilica, asking everyone to become a “bridge” of God’s love towards all.

The missionary pope poses a particular challenge for us missionaries. He reminds us of the urgency of the mission, just when we risked getting complacent about the thought that leaving for distant lands was a vocation of the past.

He shares with us the need to not lock ourselves up in our forts, but to continue to look to far-away destinations, “ad gentes”, to truly open our communities to the breath of the world.

As many have pointed out, the conclave that elected Leo XIV was the most globally diverse in the history of the Church: thanks to the prophetic choices of Pope Francis; 71 countries were represented among the cardinal electors present in the Sistine Chapel. These included pastors of very small Catholic communities who live in cities and regions that never get the world’s attention. This very particular College of Cardinals, with a quick and apparently very broad vote, chose Leo XIV.

The choice of the College was most certainly influenced by Leos XIV’s human qualities. But in voting for him, the Cardinals were also fully aware that they were choosing a missionary. In choosing this man and entrusting him with the ministry of the successor of Peter, this conclave accepted the often-repeated invitation of Pope Francis in recent years, calling us to be an “outgoing” Church. With a missionary—a key word also of the synodal path—oriented approach, Pope Leo, who reached communities in the most distant mountains of Peru on horseback during his years in South America, and the entire Church invite us to make a fresh start.

“We must seek together how to be a missionary Church, a Church that builds bridges, dialogue, always open to receiving, like this square with open arms” (Pope Leo XIV)

And together today they also show us the newest frontiers. When the new pope justified his choice of name, he drew a parallel between the first industrial revolution faced by Leo XIII with Rerum Novarum and the challenges that the development of artificial intelligence pose today for human dignity, justice and work. An economic system which causes innumerable deaths or the thirst for peace in a world torn apart by conflicts, are nowadays missionary fields.

One trait in particular is striking about the missionary Prevost who became pontiff. Anyone who knew him closely will have no sensational anecdotes to share, but will single out his one outstanding quality: he is a man who knows how to listen.

He is not a missionary who experienced the most heroic adventures, he is not the one who raised his voice the most, he is not the one who built the most schools or dispensaries, but he left his mark by opening his heart and mind to those he encountered.

As he said during the first mass with the cardinals in the Sistine Chapel: even those in authority “disappear so that Christ remains.”

Today he is Peter. As for us missionaries in every corner of the world: we too want to continue our mission in this discreet, non-invasive style.

Source: nigrizia.it