by Father Giulio Albanese MCCJ*
We publish the address given by Father Giulio Albanese, Comboni Missionary, current Director of the Office for Social Communications and the Office for Missionary Cooperation of the Vicariate of Rome, on the occasion of the International Missionary meeting “Missio ad Gentes Today: Towards New Horizons.” Promoted by the Dicastery for Evangelization and the Pontifical Mission Societies, the meeting was held on the afternoon of Saturday, October 4, in the Aula Magna of the Pontifical Urbaniana University, as part of the Jubilee of the Missionary World and Migrants.
Rome – Discerning in the light of the Church’s Tradition does not only mean grasping the dividing line between what is good and what is bad. It means, above all, recognizing which side we want to take. We live in a global society marked by evident disorder at all latitudes. The Russo-Ukrainian crisis, what is happening in Palestine, in the Holy Land, not to mention what is happening further south, and I am thinking of the Sudanese crisis, which receives very little attention in the international press. And this is the world’s leading humanitarian emergency. Imagine that out of a population of 50 million, 25 million are refugees. A significant portion are displaced, the rest are refugees who have found refuge in neighboring countries.
And what about the explosive situation in the Sahel region? Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger… There are many peripheries of the world, to use Pope Francis’s jargon, where so much of suffering humanity is sacrificed on the altar of human selfishness. And I believe the real first challenge is not to be mere extras on the stage of history. This risk does not only concern the lay faithful. We too, missionaries, can sometimes be content to live our missionary experience by focusing on our territory and forgetting that our faith is Catholic, universal, and that catholicity here must be understood as an intelligent, insightful globalization of God.
The signs of the times are before our eyes, but we must believe that our story is a story of salvation. And this is not easy in these times.
We also make our own the request we read in tomorrow’s Gospel. Like the disciples, we ask Jesus Christ, the Good Lord: increase our faith. For it is obvious that when we live in conditions of persecution, injustice, and oppression that cry out to God for vengeance, discouragement sometimes takes over. I therefore formulate my request knowing that I am addressing women and men who have chosen to side with the most disadvantaged. Passing through the Holy Door, living the Jubilee experience, means committing to affirming change. Who better than our missionaries can cultivate what is not just a feeling, but a virtue: hope, the optimism of God. This means believing that everything works together for the good of those who love God, that God writes directly on the lines of history. It is clear that all this reasoning falls within the so-called Kingdom of God. And it is not easy to believe in the presence of the Kingdom of God when we find ourselves in a situation like that of our brothers and sisters today in Gaza and its surrounding areas.
It is not easy. Reading John Paul II’s magnificent 1990 missionary encyclical, Redemptoris Missio, when he spoke of the Kingdom, he described it in these terms: It is the presence of Jesus Christ in human history.
And I believe we must bear witness to this faith even in extreme situations. Through prayer and contemplation. For, as a great 20th-century bishop, Don Tonino Bello, said, we must be “contemplative.”
From contemplation, we must move to action. To paraphrase the Apostle Peter, we must give an account of the hope that is in our hearts. And when we speak of the Kingdom of God, we go beyond the ecclesio-centric perspective.
John Paul II explained this very well. The Church is the seed, the sign, and the instrument of the Kingdom of God. But the Spirit of the Lord also blows outside the walls of the Church. And you, as missionaries in the peripheries of the world, I also think of the experience of our brothers and sisters who live in Mongolia, but also in other realities where the Church is a small flock. It is clear that we must believe that the Spirit of the Lord works mysteriously through other cultures. We are asked to proclaim and bear witness to the good news.
We are not asked to convert. For conversion is the work of the Holy Spirit, the spark of grace, and on the other hand, there is the freedom of the interlocutor before us. We are asked to announce and bear witness to the good news.
As Paul VI wisely said in his magnificent 1975 apostolic exhortation, Evangelii Nuntiandi, people prefer to listen to witnesses rather than to teachers, doctors, or preachers. And if they listen to teachers, doctors, and preachers, it is because they are witnesses, because their actions precede their words. That said, it is clear that this kingdom is based on peace, justice, solidarity, the common good, respect for Creation, and our common home.
Everything finds its fulfillment in Jesus Christ. You see, this is a challenge for us, missionaries today, because the risk is that of schizophrenia, of a separation between the Spirit and life. Our Lord Jesus Christ did not ask us to remain in the sacristies. He asked us to go outside the walls, to descend into the Agora, into the square. Moreover, missionary spirituality is life according to the Spirit. So, on the one hand, there is the Spirit, the powerful Word of God, and on the other, there is the square, there is the world.
I say this because it is evident today that, especially in the Churches of ancient tradition, intimacy and spiritualism have a viral effect—allow me to say it—that is pernicious. Because these attitudes are disembodied from the course of history.
But there is another very important consideration. Two thousand years have passed, and the harvest continues to be truly abundant and the workers are few.
The vocations crisis in the Churches of ancient tradition is evident to all. In 1990, I participated in the first missionary Congress organized in Verona by the former Office for Missionary Cooperation among the Churches. It took place from September 12th to 14th. At the time, there were nearly 24,000 Italian missionaries, including 800 lay people, 750 Fidei Donum members, and the rest were “ad vita ad gentes,” meaning members of congregations, missionary institutes, and societies of apostolic life. Today, there are 4,000 Italian missionaries, including 2,000 lay people, which is significant because it means there has been a growth in the laity. But the “ad vitam ad gentes” number around 1,400.
Obviously, this is not just a matter of arithmetic; I would even say that we must affirm the primacy of the quality of the life of faith over numbers. But numbers also matter. And it is clear that if the Churches, and I am thinking especially of the European Churches, become, pardon the expression, a dry womb, they betray their vocation, they go against nature. Paradoxically, they are no longer Churches. You understand that the stakes are high, and none of us can say “I have nothing to do with it.”
We must all have the intellectual honesty to question ourselves. Missionary institutes, religious congregations. We have a great responsibility, especially towards the younger generations.
I think it is important to emphasize two other points.
First observation: in our time, there is a constant gap between well-being and ill-being, progress and regression, wealth and poverty. And this is where the economic issue, or rather the theme of inequality, comes in. A conference strongly requested by Pope Francis was held in Rome last year. He was my bishop, since he was in the Vicariate of Rome.
I remember that Pope Bergoglio said these exact words: “We must mend the rift between the extremes.” The mission today is taking place on the fault line between these tensions, between these poles.
Mending the rift means affirming universal brotherhood; it means understanding that we are all brothers and sisters, and therefore that economic inequalities must be fought and must be on the agenda of our institutions, on the missionary agenda.
The economy is today a mission field, since OTC derivatives, those that have polluted the markets since 2008-2009, are still in circulation. Since the rating agencies, Standard & Poor’s, Moody’s, and Fitch, are unjustly downgrading African economies for purely speculative purposes. If African debt—and I could name others—is increasing, it is because the economy needs redemption.
My friends, the prosperous times are over.
Many brothers and sisters from this or that congregation are asking for help and support. And it is right to show solidarity, of course. But it is clear that recession is underway. Moreover, certain events have unfortunately had a negative impact on some of our communities and have sometimes damaged our reputation.
Perhaps we should return to what some bishops’ conferences have already advocated.
In the 1980s, I was a student in Kampala. In a seminary where all the students were Ugandan. An exceptional, unforgettable experience… Well, in the 1980s, the Ugandan bishops placed great emphasis on autonomy and sustainability. This remains a challenge for young Churches. It is not easy, but today there are approaches being promoted at many levels.
I am thinking, for example, of “social business.” These are topics we should integrate into the formation of our candidates for the priesthood and religious life.
I conclude by recalling what Saint John Paul II wrote in Redemtoris Missio: in this beautiful missionary encyclical, he also wrote that faith is strengthened by giving it. I believe we must all truly treasure his teaching.
*Director of the Office for Social Communications and the Office for Missionary Cooperation of the Vicariate of Rome
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