Vatican City, Feb 20, 2009 / 09:26 am
Pope Benedict XVI took an audience with members of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America as a chance to give a ringing endorsement of the Great Continental Mission and to underline the necessity of forming solid priests as a key part of that mission.
Meeting with 40 counselors and members of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America at the Vatican today, the Pope recounted the continual efforts made by past Pontiffs to support the Church in Latin America.
In 1958 Pope Pius XII founded the Pontifical Commission because he was "faced with a lack of priests and missionaries" and "felt the need … to intensify and co-ordinate development efforts in support of the Church in Latin America," Benedict XVI recalled.
Pope John Paul II "continued and intensified this initiative with the aim of underlining the particular pastoral solicitude felt by Peter's Successor towards the pilgrim Churches in those beloved lands."