Meeting the Pope

On Friday, May 11, Pope Benedict XVI welcomed the world's National Directors of the Pontifical Mission Societies during their annual spring meeting in Rome. Included in that group, Father Andrew Small, OMI, National Director of the Pontifical Mission Societies in the United States.

Below is a video report on that meeting, followed by some photographs sent by Father Andrew.

Pope Benedict XVI speaks with National Directors of the Pontifical Mission Societies; to read the full text of the message, click here.

National Director Father Andrew Small, OMI, speaks with Father Celestino Bundi, National Director of the Pontifical Mission Societies in Kenya during the spring gathering of National Directors. It was through a plea from Father Celestino that the U.S. Pontifical Mission Societies launched its Appeal for the Church in East Africa, as it responded to the victims of drought and famine there.

Another "look" into the meeting of National Directors of the Pontifical Mission Societies, which took place the week of May 7, 2012, in Rome. Here National Director Father Andrew Small, OMI chats with Sister Merieti Riiki, National Director in the Pacific Islands. Sister Merieti was featured in MISSION ("Passing on Hope" / Fall-Winter 2010), speaking of how missionary Sisters inspired her vocation and service today. In her work especially with children, she tries to follow the example of those Sisters and "touch the lives of others with God's great love."

Celebrations - with Mission Messages

22 new Cardinals for the Church.

Among them our Prefect for the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, Cardinal Fernando Filoni (shown to the right with Father Andrew Small, OMI, National Director, on the night before the Consistory).


Also two from the United States: our good friend of the Missions, Archbishop of New York and president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Cardinal Timothy Dolan, and Cardinal Edwin O'Brien, former archbishop of Baltimore and now Pro-Grand Master of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem.

Father Andrew journeyed to Rome to be part of the celebrations of the Church's new Cardinals. On that pilgrimage with him are directors of our Pontifical Mission Societies' offices in New York (Sister Pauline Chirchirillo, PBVM) and in San Diego (Father Joseph Miller, SVD), and with them, supporters of the Missions, as well as the Director of Development from the National Office, Mary Di Donato.

In his talk before Pope Benedict XVI and the College of Cardinals the day before the Consistory, then Archbishop Dolan spoke about "the announcement of the Gospel today, between the mission ad gentes and the New Evangelization." "Yes, we gather as missionaries, as evangelizers," he said. He also spoke about the late Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen, former National Director of the Society for the Propagation of the Faith: "The acclaimed American missionary and TV evangelist, Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen, commented, 'Our Lord's first word to His disciples was 'come!' His last word was 'go!' You can't 'go' unless you've first 'come' to Him." Read the entire text of that talk at the blog site of our friends at Catholic News Service.

And also look through images and reflections on events of that Rome pilgrimage for National Director Father Andrew and members of our mission family on our Facebook page, including "Celebrating the New Cardinals" photo albums, part one and part two. There is also a look at Father Andrew and our pilgrims visiting Mater Ecclesiae College in Castel Gandolfo, as well as their encounter with an archbishop from Africa at the headquarters of the Pontifical Mission Societies in Rome.