1986. He holds a licentiate in education from the Universidad Simon Rodriguez   
   in   
   Caracas and in pastoral theology from the Pontifical University of Salamanca,   
   Spain. He has served in a number of pastoral roles, including parish vicar,   
   bursar, parish priest, provincial counsellor and local superior. He is   
   currently   
   director of the Don Bosco agricultural center in Molinete, in the archdiocese   
   of   
   Maracaibo.   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    To the Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples: the Church lives and   
   grows   
    Vatican City, 3 December 2015 (VIS) - Pope Francis received in audience this   
   morning the participants in the plenary assembly of the Congregation for the   
   Evangelisation of Peoples, which considered the "missio ad gentes" in the light   
   of the Conciliar decree "Ad gentes" and St. John Paul II's encyclical   
   "Redemptoris missio". In his address to the 160 attendees in the Clementine   
   Hall, the Holy Father referred to his recent apostolic trip to Africa,   
   highlighting the spiritual and pastoral dynamism of the continent's many young   
   Churches, as well as the grave difficulties experienced by a large part of the   
   population.   
    "I saw that where there is the need, the Church is almost always present to   
   heal the wounds of those most in need, in whom She recognises the afflicted and   
   crucified body of the Lord Jesus. How many works of charity, of human   
   promotion!   
   How many anonymous good Samaritans work every day in the missions!   
    He emphasised that the Church, by nature evangelising, always starts by   
   auto-evangelisation. "As the Lord Jesus' disciple, she listens to His Word and   
   from this she draws the reasons for that hope that never disappoints, as it is   
   based on the grace of the Holy Spirit. Only in this way is she able to conserve   
   her freshness and apostolic zeal". As affirmed in the Conciliar decree "Ad   
   gentes", "it is from the mission of the Son and the mission of the Holy Spirit   
   that she draws her origin, in accordance with the decree of God the Father".   
   The   
   Pope reiterated, "It is the Church that is at the service of the mission. ...   
   It   
   is not the Church who makes the mission, but the mission that makes the Church.   
   Therefore, the mission is not a tool, but rather a starting point and aim".   
    In recent months, the Congregation has carried out a survey on the vitality of   
   the young Churches to understand how to make the work of the missio ad gentes   
   more effective, also in view of the ambiguity to which the experience of faith   
   is sometimes exposed today. "The secularised world, indeed, even when it is   
   welcoming towards the Gospel values of love, justice, peace and sobriety, does   
   not show similar openness to the figure of Jesus; it considers Him neither the   
   Messiah nor the Son of God. At most, it considers Him an enlightened man. It   
   therefore separates the message from the Messenger, the gift from the Giver. In   
   this situation of separation, the missio ad gentes serves as a motor and   
   horizon   
   for faith. ... The mission, in fact, is a force capable of transforming the   
   Church   
   from within, before transforming the life of peoples and cultures. Each parish   
   thus makes the style of the missio ad gentes its own. In this way, the Holy   
   Spirit will transform those whose faith is based on habit alone into disciples,   
   disaffected disciples into missionaries, bringing them out of their fears and   
   isolation and projecting them in every direction, to the very limits of the   
   world. May the kerygmatic approach to faith, so familiar in the young Churches,   
   have space also for those of a more ancient tradition".   
    The Pope recalled that neither Paul nor Barnabas had a missionary dicastery to   
   support them, yet they announced the Word, bringing to life various communities   
   and shedding their blood for the Gospel. "Over time complexities grew and the   
   need arose for a special relationship between the more recently founded   
   Churches   
   and the universal Church. For this reason, four centuries ago, Pope Gregory XV   
   instituted the Congregation 'De Propaganda Fide', which in 1967 changed its   
   name   
   to the 'Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples'. It is clear that in   
   this phase of history, 'mere administration can no longer be enough. Throughout   
   the world, let us be permanently in a state of mission'. ... Going forth is   
   innate   
   in our Baptism, and its boundaries are those of the world. Therefore, continue   
   to work so that the spirit of the missio ad gentes may inspire the journey of   
   the Church, so that she may always know how to listen to the cry of the poor   
   and   
   the distant, to meet all and to announce the joy of the Gospel".   
    Francis thanked the Congregation for its work in missionary inspiration and   
   cooperation, remarking that "all Churches, if constricted to their own   
   horizons,   
   run the risk of atrophy. The Church lives and grows when outbound, taking the   
   initiative" and going out to the people. "In many paths of the missio ad   
   gentes,   
   the dawn of a new day is already visible, as is shown by the fact that the   
   young   
   Churches know how to give, not only to receive. The first fruits are their   
   willingness to grant their priests to sister Churches of the same nation, the   
   same continent, or to serve Churches in need in other regions of the world.   
   Cooperation is not only along the north-south axis. There is also a movement in   
   the other direction, of giving back the good received from the first   
   missionaries. These too are signs of maturity".   
    The Pope concluded by asking all present to pray and work so that the Church   
   may always follow the model of the Acts of the Apostles. "Let us be inspired by   
   the strength of the Gospel and the Holy Spirit; let us come out of our narrow   
   enclosures and emigrate from the territories where we are are at times tempted   
   to close ourselves away".   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    "Evangeliario di Misericordia" presented to the Pope   
    Vatican City, 3 December 2015 (VIS) - This morning in the Hall of Popes, the   
   Evangeliario di Misericordia" was presented to the Holy Father. An initiative   
   by   
   the Italian Episcopal Conference (CEI), it is a publication of the four Gospels   
   illustrated with mosaics by the Slovenian artist and Jesuit Maro Ivan Rupnik,   
   who produced the mosaics for the Redemptoris Mater chapel in the Vatican and   
   for   
   the Basilica of Fatima. Intended to commemorate the beginning of the Jubilee of   
   Mercy, the publication also includes a series of introductory texts by the Fr.   
   Alessandro Amapani. The prologue is by Archbishop Rino Fisichella, president of   
   the Pontifical Council for Promoting New Evangelisation.   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    Audiences   
    Vatican City, 3 December 2015 (VIS) - Today, the Holy Father received in   
   audience:   
    - Cardinal Gerhard Ludwig Müller, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine   
   of the Faith;   
    - Bishop David Douglas Crosby, O.M.I., of Hamilton, Canada, president of the   
   Episcopal Conference of Catholic Bishops of Canada, accompanied by Bishop   
   Lionel   
   Gendron, P.S.S., of Saint-Jean-Longueuil, deputy president, and Msgr. Frank   
   Leo,   
   C.S.S., general secretary.   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    Other Pontifical Acts   
    Vatican City, 3 December 2015 (VIS) - The Holy Father has:   
    - accepted the resignation from the office of auxiliary of the diocese of Down   
   and Connor, Ireland, presented by Bishop Anthony J. Farquhar, upon reaching the   
   age limit.   
    - erected the new diocese of Guasdualito (area 35,184, population 200,000,   
   priests 13, religious 9) in Venezuela, with territory taken from the dioceses   
   of   
   San Fernando de Apure and Barinas, making it a suffragan of the metropolitan   
   metropolis of Merida.   
    - appointed Fr. Modesto Gonzalez Perez, S.B.D., as the first bishop of the new   
   diocese of Guasdualito. The bishop-elect was born in 1959 in San Antonio de los   
   Alpes, Venezuela, gave his religious vows in 1983 and was ordained a priest in   
   1986. He holds a licentiate in education from the Universidad Simon Rodriguez   
   in   
   Caracas and in pastoral theology from the Pontifical University of Salamanca,   
   Spain. He has served in a number of pastoral roles, including parish vicar,   
   bursar, parish priest, provincial counsellor and local superior. He is   
   currently   
   director of the Don Bosco agricultural centre in Molinete, in the archdiocese   
   of   
   Maracaibo.   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
   For more information and to search for documents refer to the site:   
   www.visnews.org and www.vatican.va   
      
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   Information Service may be reproduced wholly or partially by quoting   
   the source:  V. I. S. - Vatican Information Service.   
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