VATICAN CITY, MAY 16, 2002 (Zenit.org).
Pope John
Paul II
asserted that the mission is not something restricted to a few; all Catholics must become
missionaries. "It is necessary that,
in the different levels of responsibility, everyone in the Church be educated to cooperate together in the very mission
of Christ," the Pontiff said in his message.
This vocation, the Holy Father
stated, "conserves all its validity:
it represents the paradigm of the missionary commitment of the Church, which always has need of radical and total dedication,
of a new and intrepid impulse."
John Paul II made it clear that "the missionary activity can never be reduced to simple human development, to help for
the poor, and the liberation of the oppressed." "Although one must
intervene with courage on these fronts, in collaboration with every person of good will, the Church has another primary and
specific task : to help every man and woman encounter Christ, the only Redeemer," the message
continued.
That is why "the saint is the authentic missionary and the world waits
for saintly missionaries," the papal text concludes