Pope Francis expresses joy at growth of Missionaries of Mercy

Pope Francis expressed joy on Monday at the rise in the number of Missionaries of Mercy worldwide.

Addressing Missionaries of Mercy in the Vatican’s Paul VI Hall on April 25, the pope said he was delighted that the initiative unveiled in 2015 continued to grow year after year.

“I wanted to meet you again, because to you I have entrusted the ministry that is closest to my heart: to be an effective instrument of God’s mercy,” he said.

“I see that every year the number of Missionaries of Mercy increases: here there are other problems, but it increases. This gives me joy, because it means that your presence in the particular Churches is considered important and valuable.”

Pope Francis established the Missionaries of Mercy in the 2015 papal bull Misericordiae vultus proclaiming the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy, which ended in November 2016.

He explained that he wanted to send priests chosen to serve as Missionaries of Mercy across the world as “living signs of the Father’s readiness to welcome those in search of his pardon.”

According to the Pontifical Council for Promoting the New Evangelization, there are currently 1,040 Missionaries of Mercy. They were due to meet in Rome in spring 2020, but the gathering was rescheduled for April 23-25, 2022, due to the coronavirus crisis.

Participants in the Third International Meeting of Missionaries of Mercy came from the Americas, Asia, Africa, and Europe. Three priests came from Ukraine after obtaining special visas to leave the war-torn country, the pontifical council said.

In his address, Pope Francis noted that the Missionaries of Mercy were mentioned in the new Vatican constitution, Praedicate evangelium, released in March.

Article 59 § 2 of the apostolic constitution says: “Evangelization is carried out in particular through the proclamation of divine mercy, through multiple modalities and expressions. To this end, the specific action of the Missionaries of Mercy contributes in a special way.”

The pope said: “I wanted to put you there, in the apostolic constitution, because you are a privileged instrument in the Church today, and you are not a movement that exists today and will not exist tomorrow, no, you are in the structure of the Church. That is why I wanted to put you there.”

“I hope, therefore, that you will be able to grow even more, and for this reason, I address my hope to the bishops that they will be able to identify priests who are holy, merciful, ready to forgive, to become fully fledged Missionaries of Mercy.”