He is considered one of the most representative voices of Asian theological thought. Luis Antonio Tagle was appointed archbishop by Pope Benedict XVI in 2011. His was an episcopate committed to the reality of his country, an aspect that made him suffer many persecutions by the government. During the pontificate of Pope Francis, he was appointed delegated president of the extraordinary synod of bishops on the family (2014). On 14 May 2015 he was elected president of Caritas Internationalis.
From 8 December 2019, Pope Francis has appointed him prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, called “Propaganda Fidei.” This congregation has as its specific task the propagation of the faith throughout the world, with the specific responsibility to coordinate all missionary efforts, to direct the missions, to promote the formation of the clergy and local hierarchies, to encourage the creation of new missionary institutes, and to provide material support for missionary activities. Thus this renewed Congregation becomes the ordinary and exclusive instrument of the Holy Father and the Holy See for the exercise of jurisdiction over all missions and missionary cooperation.
It is known that in recent years the Superior General and the General Council have committed themselves to promoting the missionary spirit in the Congregation among the confreres and to strengthening our Vincentian presence in the countries and territories where the need is felt. The Congregation has many missions and different methods. The members of the Congregation of the Mission are scattered in over 90 countries. Currently there are many missions and forms of evangelization that the community brings to the world: international missions, composed of missionaries from various countries and who depend on the General Curia; regional missions, which depend on some provinces and which, due to their autonomy and the increase in the number of vocations from the country, have been formed into regions; other types of missions in territories where there is no Vincentian presence and that a province takes on in another country to attend the specific call of a bishop or the Vincentian Family; and, finally, the Popular Missions, which since St. Vincent’s time have been composed of teams of Missioners who support evangelization for a specific period of time in a specific parish.
This year, with the visit that the prefect of the Congregation for Evangelization will make to the General Curia, we want to start motivating all the confreres with the main purpose of reviving this missionary spirit that is a fundamental part of our Congregation and of inviting those who they feel encouraged, to offer themselves by joining the 1% of this year of 2020, by going to the missions where there is a felt missionary need or to strengthen our missionary presence in those territories of greatest need.
We want to invite you to start this journey, as a Congregation, and to live our missionary spirit, saying: “Yes, I want to be in that 1%.”
Rome, June 17, 2020
Photo Vatican.va
