Cardinal Tagle: Pope Francis
reveals "his passion for mission"
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| Cardinal Tagle concelebrates Mass with Pope Francis in Manila on 16 January 2015 |
Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, Prefect of the Congregation for
the Evangelization of Peoples, grants an interview to Vatican News' Alessandro
Gisotti to explore key elements of Pope Francis' recent message to the
Pontifical Mission Societies.
Cardinal Tagle, Francis' message to the Pontifical
Mission Societies (PMS) was widely recognized far beyond the horizon of those
to whom it was addressed. Once again the Pope underlined how much the mission
is at the heart of the life and identity of the Church. What particularly
impressed you with this message?
There are many things that fascinated me about Pope Francis´
message to the Pontifical Mission Societies. Let me name a few. First, the Holy
Father had accepted the invitation to address the National Directors of the PMS
during their general assembly that should have been taken place the month of
May of this year. Due to the pandemic, the assembly was called off. But instead
of welcoming the cancellation of an audience as an opportunity to rest, the
Pope still decided to write and send a message. For me, this message contains
not only the Pope´s words and insights but also his passion for mission and
solicitude for PMS. While reading the document, we should listen to his soul,
his excitement, his hopes and his preoccupations. Secondly, I believe that
while the message is specifically addressed to the National Directors of the
PMS, the Pope wants the whole Church, the whole People of God, to read, study
and meditate on it. It will serve as a guide for the National Directors. But it
also serves as a tool for the examination of conscience of the whole Church in
the area of missionary spirit and engagement.
The Pope emphasized strongly that the mission is a free
gift of the Holy Spirit, not the outcome of strategies that imitate
"models of worldly efficiency". What do you think should be done to
avoid this risk of functionalism, of efficiency in the new projects of PMS ?
It is important to say that Pope Francis is not against
efficiency and methods that could make our mission fruitful and transparent.
But he is warning us about the danger of “measuring” Church mission using only
the standards and outcomes pre-determined by models or schools of management,
no matter how good and useful these may be. The tools of efficiency can help
but should never substitute for Church mission. The most efficiently run Church
organization may end up being the least missionary. By emphasizing that mission
is a gift of the Holy Spirit, Pope Francis is leading us back to some
fundamental truths like: faith in God is a gift from God Himself; the Kingdom
of God is inaugurated and fulfilled by God; the Church is God’s creation; the
Church awakens to its mission, proclaims the Gospel and goes to the ends of the
earth because the Risen Lord sends the Holy Spirit from the Father. At the root
of the Church and mission is a gift of God, not a human plan. Jesus comes to
meet us as the Love of the Father. But we have a role to play – to pray, to
discern the divine gift, receive it in faith and act on it as the Giver
desires. Separated from this root of grace, the actions of the Church, not just
the projects of PMS, are reduced to mere functions and fixed plans of action.
God’s surprises and “disturbances” are considered destructive of our prepared
projects. For me, to avoid the risk of functionalism, we need to return
to the spring of the Church’s life and mission: God’s gift in Jesus and the
Holy Spirit. Apart from that vivifying source, our hard work would cause tiredness,
boredom, anxiety, competition, insecurity and despair. Firmly rooted in the
gift of the Holy Spirit, we could face our mission and its pains, with joy and
hope.
With a very strong image, Francis urged the PMS to “break
every mirror in the house”. The temptations of narcissism and self-sufficiency
are "maladies" that worry the Holy Father. How is it possible to get
“vaccinated” against this virus that sickens the Church?
Narcissism is a result of a purely pragmatic or functional
view of mission. Mission slowly becomes more about me, my name, my success, my
achievement, my fame and my followers and less about the Good News of God’s
mercy, of Jesus’ compassion, of the Holy Spirit’s surprising movements. And
when good results come, narcissism or self-focus leads to self-sufficiency. My
achievements prove that I can rely on my own capacities. To need God and other
people is an insult to my unlimited capabilities. Self-sufficiency deepens
narcissism. This cycle traps a person or an institution within the narrow world
of self-isolation, which is the opposite of mission. This is the mirror that
Pope Francis wants to us to break – self-absorption. I propose that we use a
transparent glass that will enable us to see beyond ourselves, not a mirror
where I look only at my face and the immediate environment surrounding me. Or
better still, as the Pope suggests, let us open the windows and doors, look
out, step out to God’s creation, to neighbors, to street corners, to the
suffering, to the confused, to the youth, to the wounded. Looking at them, we
hope to see ourselves too. We see God. They are the real mirrors we should be
looking at. The vaccine against narcissism and self-sufficiency is to get out
of ourselves. The vaccine is called “the Church that goes forth” (La chiesa
in uscita). Only then will we find ourselves. It is about changing mirrors,
I think.
The Pope also asks that we think of the poorest rather
than self-promotion. He asks to reach people "where they are and and just
how they are in the midst of their lives" and to trust the sensus fidei of
the People of God. Are the PMS ready to challenge themselves for a new impetus
in their fundamental mission at the service of the Church?
By bringing mission back to the action of the Holy Spirit,
Pope Francis reminds us of the Church, Temple of the Holy Spirit, the People of
God, the active agent of mission. PMS and other mission-oriented groups are
reminded that mission is not their exclusive domain, nor are they the sole
promoters of mission. The Church as a living edifice of the Holy Spirit has
already been missionary from its historical beginnings. The Pope rightly
recalls the origins of the PMS in the concern, prayer and acts of charity of
simple people. PMS was born thanks to women and men who lived holiness in their
daily ordinary life, a holiness that moved them to share the gift of Jesus to
those who need Him. They used the means given to them by the Holy Spirit:
prayer and acts of charity. The Holy Father is encouraging PMS and the Church
to bring the understanding and practice of mission back to the ordinariness of
Christian life, to make mission a simple, non-complicated part of Christian
life in families, in workplaces, in schools, in the farms, in offices and in
parishes. I think one big challenge is how to help our faithful see that faith
is a great gift of God, not a burden. If we are happy and enriched by our
experience of faith, then we will share that gift to others. Mission becomes
sharing of a gift, rather than an obligation to fulfill. We walk together with
brothers and sisters in the same journey called mission. Mission and synodality
meet.
An important part of the Message is dedicated to
donations. For the Pope it is necessary to overcome the temptation to go in
search of large donors transforming the Pontifical Mission Societies into NGOs
focused on raising funds. How will these exhortations of the Pope be
implemented on a practical level?
In the coherent vision of Pope Francis, donations are seen
as offerings of charity that accompany prayer for the mission. This perspective
makes the donations or collections part of the gift of faith and mission. When
the horizon of gift is replaced by that of efficiency in running an
organization, then the donations become merely funds or resources to be used,
rather than tangible signs of love, of prayer, of sharing the fruits of human
labor. The danger is that money would be raised in the name of mission but
without becoming an expression of missionary charity on the part of a donor.
The goal might shift to simply reaching a desired amount of money rather than
awakening missionary consciousness and joy. With eyes set on a monetary target,
the temptation to rely on large donors becomes great. I suggest that we devote
more time and energy to providing people with opportunities to encounter Jesus
and His Gospel and to be missionaries in their daily lives. The faithful who
become committed and joyful missionaries are our best resource, not money per
se. It is also good to remind our faithful that even their small donations,
when put together, become a tangible expression of the Holy Father’s universal
missionary charity to churches in need. No gift is too small when given for the
common good.
There is no Church without mission, Francis repeats to us
once again with this strong Message that recalls Evangelii Gaudium. What is
your hope as Prefect of the Congregation that has the mission inscribed in its
DNA?
The Message of Pope Francis to the PMS Directors echoes the
main themes of Evangelii Gaudium. I believe that Evangelii Gaudium is Pope
Francis’ unique way of articulating for our time the ecclesiological and
missiological legacy of Vatican II. He also expresses the influence of St. Paul
VI’s Evangelii nuntiandi on his missionary vision. In the past six decades, we
have heard the loud affirmation that the identity and reason for existence of
the Church is mission. The mission of the Church is to share the Gift it has
received. I am reminded of the first letter of St. John where he says, “This is
what we proclaim to you: what was from the beginning, what we have heard, what
we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked upon and our hands have touched
– we speak of the word of life…Indeed our purpose in writing you this is that
our joy may be complete” (I John 1:1-4). I hope that we could return to this
simple and joyful beginning of the Church and its apostolic mission.
How does an extraordinary moment like the one we are
experiencing due to the pandemic affect all this?
The Covid-19 pandemic has brought much suffering and fear to
the human family. We cannot and should not ignore its impact on the Church and
mission. It might take us many more years to have a better grasp of this event
in our lives. But we can declare even now that amidst the uncertainties, the
lockdown, the unemployment, the loss of income, and many other effects of the
pandemic, the Holy Spirit has vigorously poured the gifts of compassion,
heroism, love of family, ardent prayer, rediscovery of the Word of God, hunger
for the Eucharist, a return to simple lifestyle, caring for creation, to name a
few. When the Church felt restricted in its usual activities, the Holy Spirit
continues His mission without any limitations. The Church is called to look and
to marvel at the astonishing works of the Holy Spirit. We appreciate the gift
and we will narrate the stories of the Holy Spirit’s action during the pandemic
in the many years ahead.
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