Vatican City, May 21, 2010 / 08:30 am
"The conversion of the world to Christ is not something we produce, but something given to us," the Holy Father told representatives of the Pontifical Mission Societies on Friday morning. Evangelization, he underscored, is reliant on the work of the Holy Spirit and needs missionaries "with their hands raised towards God."
On Friday morning, the Holy Father met with members of the Superior Council of the Pontifical Mission Societies on the final day of their Ordinary Assembly in Rome, which has been in session since Monday.
The Pope remarked to them that the mission of evangelization is "immense," especially today when "humanity suffers a certain lack of reflection and wisdom" and a God-excluding humanism has become so widespread.
"For this reason, it is urgently necessary to illuminate emerging problems with the unchanging light of the Gospel," Benedict XVI said.