Pope encourages Christians to support, engage in missionary work

Published: 2008-05-19

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Every Christian has an obligation to share the love of Christ with others and the primary means for doing so is to engage in or support the church's missionary activity, Pope Benedict XVI said. "It is love that must push us to proclaim to all men and women the truth that saves with frankness and courage," the pope said May 17 in a meeting with participants in the annual assembly of the pontifical missionary societies. The assembly brought together top Vatican officials and the 129 national directors of the missionary societies: the Society for the Propagation of the Faith, the Holy Childhood Association, the Society of St. Peter Apostle and the Missionary Union of Priests and Religious. While the societies are instruments for the promotion and support of the church's missionary activity around the world, they also are expressions of each diocese's and each nation's commitment to mission, the pope said.

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