Pope canonizes three missionaries at Mass marked by song, dance

Published: 2003-10-06

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- At a Mass marked by the song, dance and ululations of African and Asian pilgrims, Pope John Paul II canonized three priests who dedicated their lives to missionary activity. The three men declared saints Oct. 5 were Daniel Comboni, founder of the Comboni missionary priests and sisters; Arnold Janssen, founder of the Divine Word missionaries and the Holy Spirit missionary sisters; and Joseph Freinademetz, a Divine Word missionary to China in the late 1800s. "The first task of missionary institutes is the mission 'ad gentes,'" to peoples who have not heard the Gospel, the pope said during his homily. Proclaiming Christ, he said, "is not to be placed after any other commitment, although necessary, of a social or humanitarian character." The pope read about two-thirds of his homily in Italian, but the section prepared in German was read by Cardinal Walter Kasper, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity.

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