Each May, the General Assembly of the Pontifical Mission Societies meets in Rome.  It is a time when the evangelization efforts of the local Mission Church are discussed. From constructing Churches and health clinics; to supporting the next generation of priests and Religious; to purchasing bicycles for catechists travel among villages, the donations of Catholics that support the Missions are distributed.  As local needs change, every year, so do the evangelization projects funded. Cardinal Fernando Filoni, Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples recalled in his inaugural speech at the Pontifical Mission Societies Assemblyr ecalled that "in this first year of his  pastoral ministry as Bishop of Rome, Pope Francis has given the Church a great Missionary impulse" through many gestures & the publication of two important documents, Lumen Fidei and Evangelii Gaudium. Filoni reminded the Assembly that the Pope emphasized, "Evangelization in this period of enormous social change,  “ Pope Francis continued “requires a transformed Church, a Missionary Church... because the Missionary action is the paradigm of all the Missionary work of the Church."

Cardinal Filoni added, "It is time to review our animation activities, which must speak to the hearts of God's people, indicating the beauty of the participation in the Missionary service. Missionary cooperation cannot be based solely on the collection of offerings. They, the Pontifical Mission Societies are charismatic, for example, they have their effectiveness in the power of the Holy Spirit.  The appropriation of faith, prayer for the missions & sacrifice are necessary elements for the effectiveness of the work of evangelization."

How do the two new saints – John Paul II and John XXIII – share connections with Venerable Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen?
It's a Missionary Connection,
of course.

The former National Director o f the Pontifical Mission Society for the Propagation of the Faith spent time with Pope John XXIII – at the Second Vatican Council, to name one such meeting.  Bishop Sheen even assisted the Pope in ordaining missionary bishops.  Pope John XXIII wrote then Bishop Sheen and Diocesan Directors of the Pontifical Mission Society for the Propagation of the Faith as they met in Rome in 1961. 

“The first message of our pontificate was that the Missions are among our primary concern,” the Pope wrote, reflecting in that message on the “great transformation” that had occurred since the first support was sent by the Pontifical Mission Society for the Propagation of the Faith [PMSPF] in 1822 – that help would have been directed to the Missions then, including our own country.  Pope John XXIII recalled also his own connection with the PMSPF, as director in Italy:  “Among the most pleasant memories we cherish of my years in the priesthood are those in which I dedicated my zeal and energies to the charity for the Propagation of the Faith.”

Venerable Archbishop Sheen’s encounter with Pope John Paul II happened very close to the end of his life.  In October 1979, on the altar of St. Patrick’s Cathedral, filled to greet Pope John Paul II, the Pope embraced Archbishop Sheen, saying,

“You have written and spoken well of the Lord Jesus.  You are a loyal son of the Church.” 

Archbishop Sheen died a little more than two months later, on December 9, 1979.