On November 16–18, 2022, a three-day conference emphasized the Congregation of Propaganda Fide’s global missionary activity spanning four centuries. Credit: EWTN Evening News
Washington, D.C., Newsroom, 19 November 2022, 9:00 a.m. (CNA).
Congregation of Propaganda Fide, a Vatican department devoted to the missionary activities of the Church, is commemorating its 400th anniversary. This week, a three-day symposium at the Vatican examined the centuries-long history of this department, as well as its current worldwide effect.
Tracy Sabol of EWTN News Nightly recently interviewed Monsignor Camillus Johnpillai, the head of the Dicastery for Evangelization — which was combined with the Congregation of Propaganda Fide earlier this year as part of a reform by Pope Francis — to learn more about the department’s history, why it was founded, and the type of work it continues to perform.
“The holy congregation — the Propaganda Fide — implies ‘a congregation or dicastery intended for the promotion of the religion,’” Johnpillai stated, noting that it was established on January 6, 1622.
Johnpillai noted that understanding the historical background around the congregation’s formation is essential to comprehending its mission, despite the congregation’s work being rooted in a rich history.
“The Church was preparing for a specific change in the 17th century,” he stated. After the Council of Trent in the sixteenth century, the Church was increasingly concerned with the interior renovation of the Church as well as its expansion.
Johnpillai describes how, as a result of the Protestant Reformation in the sixteenth century, many individuals abandoned the Catholic Church.
In addition, because the Reformation followed the split of the Eastern Churches, such as the Orthodox Church, this emphasized the necessity for the Church to undergo both an inner renewal and growth. This need prompted Pope Gregory XVI to establish the Sacred Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith in 1622.
Johnpillai spoke on the worldwide scope of the congregation’s present mission as he elaborated on the current activity of the congregation.
Johnpillai explained, “[This] specific dicastery, formerly called as ‘Propaganda Fide,’ is responsible for the care of the new particular churches… particularly in Africa, Asia, and some regions of America and Oceania.” “Throughout the world, there are a total of 1,117 dioceses (or archdioceses) and vicariates (or prefectures).”
Watch the full interview below.