Source:
https://www.catholicculture.org/news/headlines/index.cfm?storyid=21329
Excerpt:
In an address to the annual meeting of the Pontifical Mission Societies, the prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples said that Pope Francis has given the Church a “great missionary thrust” through his actions and two major teaching documents: the encyclical Lumen Fidei and the apostolic exhortation Evangelii Gaudium.
The Pontifical Mission Societies – the Society for the Propagation of the Faith, the Society of St. Peter the Apostle, the Holy Childhood Association, and the Missionary Union of Priests and Religious – exist to support the missions.
Cardinal Fernando Filoni told the Societies’ leaders that it is “unfair” that up to half the priests in some African and Asian dioceses now serve in the West, “where they believe they find better pastoral conditions.” These priests’ native dioceses, he said, are “still short of personnel” and thus are “deprived of significant apostolic forces absolutely indispensable for Christian life.”
Cardinal Filoni also noted a decrease in missionary contributions from Catholics in dioceses in wealthier nations, even as contributions from Asian dioceses have increased modestly. He attributed the decline in the West to “the weakening of the missionary spirit and motivation” and challenged the Societies’ officials to “get out of our seats” and be more actively present in parishes, dioceses, and other Catholic institutions.
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