I

7. The First World War involved many countries all over the world and caused grievous losses to many individuals and nations. When it finally ended, Benedict XV's Apostolic Letter¹⁴ (which We mentioned above), like the exalted invitation of a fatherly voice, enflamed the souls of all Catholics to expand peacefully the Kingdom of God, the only one, We say, which can give and secure permanent peace and prosperity to all men, children of their Heavenly Father. From that time, during forty very active years, the works and undertakings of the heralds of the Gospel have been flourishing and producing increasingly abundant fruits every day; and the most noteworthy result is the fact that a local hierarchy and clergy have been increasingly developed in the mission areas.

A Local Hierarchy

8. It is necessary that missionaries obey the words of Our immediate predecessor, Pius XII, to the effect that they "must constantly keep before their mind's eyes their ultimate goal, which is to establish the Church firmly in other countries, and subsequently to entrust it to a local hierarchy, chosen from their own people.''¹⁵ Therefore, this Apostolic See, abundantly and at the opportune time, has taken measures especially in recent times, to establish or re-establish a hierarchy in those areas in which local conditions favored the foundation of Episcopal Sees, and if possible, to place locally born prelates at their head. At any rate, it is well known that this has always been the principal and constant goal of the Sacred Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith. It was an Apostolic Letter, however, which highlighted the importance and immediacy of the matter as never before. In this letter Our predecessor, Benedict XV, urgently reminded the authorities in charge of the missions to nurture carefully the vocations of those who felt the divine call to the priesthood in mission territories and to contribute to the quantitative and qualitative growth of that clergy which was called native. (Neither slight nor discrimination was intended by the word "native," or was ever expressed or implied by the language of the Roman Pontiffs and ecclesiastical documents.)

Growth of Native Clergy

9. This exhortation of Benedict XV, which was repeated by Our predecessors Pius XI and Pius XII, with the help of God's divine Providence has had visible and copious results. We want you to join Us in rendering thanks to God for the fact that a numerous and elect legion of bishops and priests has arisen in the Mission territories, Our brethren and beloved sons, who fill Our heart with great expectations. If We cast even a cursory glance on the ecclesiastical situation in the areas which are entrusted to the Sacred Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith, with the exception of those at present under persecution, We note that the first bishop of east Asian origins was consecrated in 1923, and the first vicars apostolic of African Negro descent were named in 1939. By 1959, We count 68 Asian and 25 African bishops. The remaining native clergy grew in number from 919 in 1918 to 5553 in 1957 in Asia, and during the same period in Africa from 90 in 1918 to 1811 in 1957. With such an admirable increase in the numbers of the clergy did the Lord of the harvest¹⁶ desire to reward adequately the labors and merits of those who zealously did mission work, either individually or in cooperation with many others, responding with a generous heart to the repeated exhortations of this Apostolic See.

Mutual Exchange

10. It was, therefore, with good reason that Our predecessor Pius XII was able to affirm with satisfaction: "Once upon a time it seemed as though the life of the Church used to prosper and blossom chiefly in the regions of ancient Europe, whence it would flow, like a majestic river, through the remaining areas which, to use the Greek term, were considered almost the periphery of the world; today, however, the life of the Church is shared, as though by a mutual irradiation of energies, among all individual members of the Mystical Body of Christ. Not a few countries on other continents have long since outgrown the missionary stage, and are now governed by an ecclesiastical hierarchy of their own, have their own ecclesiastical organization, and are liberally offering to other Church communities those very gifts, spiritual and material, which they formerly used to receive.''¹⁷

Encouraging Vocations

11. We wish especially to exhort the bishops and clergy of the new Christian communities to pray to God, and to conduct themselves in such a way that the priestly gift they are enjoying may grow in spiritual fruitfulness; in their talks with the people, as often as feasible they should praise the dignity, the beauty, and the merits of the priesthood, and, by so doing, they will induce all those whom God has chosen for this exalted honor to respond to the call with an open and generous heart. They should also cause the faithful entrusted to their care to pray to God for this cause, in unity of spirit with the whole Church, which, in response to the Divine Redeemer's exhortations, prays "the Lord of the Harvest to send forth laborers into his harvest,"¹⁸ especially at the present time, when "the harvest indeed is great, but the laborers are few."¹⁹

Place of Foreign Missionaries

12. However, Christian communities to which missionaries still devote their zeal, although already governed by their own hierarchy, are still in need of the work of missionaries from other countries, either because of the vastness of the territory, or the increasing number of converts, or the multitude of those who have not yet benefited from the doctrine of the Gospel. To such missionaries, no doubt, apply these words of Our immediate predecessor: "These cannot be considered foreigners, for all Catholic priests who truly answer their vocation feel themselves native sons wherever they work, in order that the Kingdom of God may flourish and develop."²⁰ Let them therefore work united by the bond of that loving, brotherly, and sincere charity which mirrors the love they must feel toward the Divine Redeemer and His Church; and, in prompt and filial obedience to their Bishops, whom "the Holy Spirit placed . . . to rule the Church of God,"²¹ they must be "of one heart and one soul,"²² grateful to each other for the mutual cooperation and help; indeed, if they act in this manner, it should be apparent to everyone's eyes that they are the disciples of Him Who, in His own and most distinctive "new" commandments, exhorted all to a mutual and always increasing love.²³