Princeps Pastorum

With haunting words, Pope John XXIII. in his mission encyclical Princeps Pastorum out of 28 November 1959 the importance of missionary work ( The First Shepherd ). Both the local clergy as well as lay people come to a respective role.

Study of Mission Studies

The main concern of the Holy See in the education and formation of priests was to carry out the study of missiology. To acceptance into the training of priests was urged and advised them strongly. The training must necessarily include the whole, orthodox, traditional teaching of the Church, and catch the spirit of the students and sharpen and principally so that the Christian religion be recognized assessing their native culture, in terms of philosophy, theology and their relationship should.

About the missionary mandate of the local clergy

The local clergy had to practice in a particular duty, they were the ones who could push vigorously the missionary activity. Be it but that would have to precede in the order and " gift of faith " with a good example. He therefore calls upon the Diocesan Bishops once more to send to priests in the mission, even if the priesthood in his own diocese was low. The local clergy, wrote John XXIII. , Must be brought to account, he must recognize that missionary work is an important and urgent task of the Church.

Church and culture

Like its predecessors, explains John XXIII. , That the cultures of the mission countries are respected, it was necessary to teach these foreign cultures in the formation of priests. The cultures may not be rejected, neither be despised. Therefore, the priest must be dismissed with heart and mind in the missionary work, and this responsibility is the responsibility of sending bishops.

Notice of lay participation

According to the statement about the difficulty of the mission work, the shortage of priests and the fulfillment of the Christian mission and evangelization, the Pope is considering appropriate lay in the missionary activities involve. The prerequisite for this is, however, as with the priests, targeted and good education. But it was not to the statistics are used to fix the numerical deficiency, but rather to the " elect" to be well trained, firmly rooted in the faith and to spread word to be able to God. They should also be no support staff, but at the same responsibilities when it comes to the range of tasks, are. The pastoral job remains therefore a matter of course the trained priests.