Vatican City, Nov 25, 2003 / 22:00 pm
In a message sent to Cardinal Rodolfo Quezada Toruño, Archbishop of Guatemala and president of the second American Missionary Congress, Pope John Paul II said the Continent needs a new outpouring of holiness to carry out the new evangelization.
The Congress, known as CAM2, is gathering together 3,000 delegates from all over the Americas from November 25-30 in Guatemala City.
In the message, the Pope recalls his trip to the American continent in 2002 and the canonization of Pedro de San Jose de Betancourt.
“The canonization of this extraordinary missionary was in a certain way,” writes the Pope, “a prelude to the present congress since its theme is ‘The Church in America, your life is mission.’ The renewed impulse to the mission ‘ad gentes’,” he continues, “demands holy missionaries and holy ecclesiastical communities in America and from America.”