The People of God and the Unity of Humanity The Church, as the People of God to which all human beings are ordered, in a true and profound sense, shares in their lives, their joys and hopes, their sorrows and anguish. Through the power of the Holy Spirit within the Church, Christ unites humanity to Himself and, in a marvelous way, to the Father. The Church sees herself essentially in the fulfillment of the Mission entrusted to her by the Lord, which includes the spiritual, moral, and human development of every man, woman, and child. At the same time, she contributes to the well-being of all people, mending divisions, and elevating human dignity to the measure by which Christ reconciled it to the Father. Ecclesial Awareness and the Missio ad Gentes The Service of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples at 50 Years since the Conciliar Document Ad Gentes Young Churches The ecclesial realities within the mission territories under the competence of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples (CEP) are delineated in various ways: Missio sui iuris, Apostolic Prefectures, Apostolic Vicariates, Dioceses, and Archdioceses. In these realities, the life of the People of God is formed and matures in every aspect of human life (family, work, choice of life, service, education, communication, etc.) and of the life of faith (charity, liturgy, vocations, etc.). In the fifty years since the Conciliar Decree the missionary activity of the Ad Gentes, Church is undergoing a marked transformation. At that time, the world population was around three billion persons, of whom two billion did not know Christ; today it is seven billion, of whom four and a half billion do not know Christ. Compared to fifty years ago, the number of originating in the West has greatly “missionaries” diminished. On the other hand, vocations from Asia, Africa, and “missionary”
The People of God and the Unity of Humanity The Church, as the People of God to which all human beings are ordered, in a true and profound sense, shares in their lives, their joys and hopes, their sorrows and anguish. Through the power of the Holy Spirit within the Church, Christ unites humanity to Himself and, in a marvelous way, to the Father. The Church sees herself essentially in the fulfillment of the Mission entrusted to her by the Lord, which includes the spiritual, moral, and human development of every man, woman, and child. At the same time, she contributes to the well-being of all people, mending divisions, and elevating human dignity to the measure by which Christ reconciled it to the Father. Ecclesial Awareness and the Missio ad Gentes The Service of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples at 50 Years since the Conciliar Document Ad Gentes Young Churches The ecclesial realities within the mission territories under the competence of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples (CEP) are delineated in various ways: Missio sui iuris, Apostolic Prefectures, Apostolic Vicariates, Dioceses, and Archdioceses. In these realities, the life of the People of God is formed and matures in every aspect of human life (family, work, choice of life, service, education, communication, etc.) and of the life of faith (charity, liturgy, vocations, etc.). In the fifty years since the Conciliar Decree Ad Gentes, the missionary activity of the Church is undergoing a marked transformation. At that time, the world population was around three billion persons, of whom two billion did not know Christ; today it is seven billion, of whom four and a half billion do not know Christ. Compared to fifty years ago, the number of “missionaries” originating in the West has greatly diminished. On the other hand, “missionary” vocations from Asia, Africa, and
questionnaire_plenary_cep_2015_en.docx