The Pontifical Mission Societies (PMS) of Spain adhere to the request of the Holy Father to create an international emergency fund to help mission territories affected by this pandemic. Although Spain is also experiencing a dramatic situation due to the spread of Covid 19, it cannot remain indifferent to the reality of the poorest areas of the country, where the harmful effects are even greater.
Don José María Calderón, National Director of the PMS of Spain, in a note sent to Fides, explains: «Unfortunately the situation caused by Covid-19 in Spain is terrible, under all aspects: the dead, the infected, the sick health personnel, the lack of materials and means to work with a certain security … besides the economic aspect. However, we see how this pandemic is gradually spreading in the life of countries such as Africa, Asia, Oceania, and America, which have much less means than us and in some places have serious difficulties in handling the situation and experiencing isolation, the limitation of relationships, the way to experience the pain and burial of their loved ones! For this reason, the missionaries are already ringing the alarm bell … they will need a lot of prayer and a lot of help from us!». The National Director reminds us that «the PMS are the channel which the Holy Father and the Church have at their disposal to get this aid, both spiritual and material. That is why we decided to launch this campaign. Thanks to everyone who decides to collaborate».
These territories represent a third of the dioceses of the world and almost half of the world’s population lives in them. Here the Church does an enormous job of evangelization and human promotion: the Church supports 26,898 social institutions (hospitals, dispensaries, nursing homes, orphanages…) and 119,200 schools, more than half of those that the Church manages in the world. In the past 30 years, the Church has opened on average 2 social institutions and 6 schools per day in mission territories. All this work that the Church does needs financial support that it receives regularly through the PMS, in campaigns known as World Mission Day (Domund). But in these very special circumstances, there are already extraordinary requests for help.
