The text “History, Charism, Spirituality of the Pontifical Mission Society of the Holy Childhood”, by Juan Carlos Carvajal Blanco, priest of the diocese of Madrid and professor of the Faculty of Theology of the Ecclesiastical University of St. Damascus and Mr. Rafael Santos Barba, philologist and editor, director since 2013 of the magazine of missionary pastoral care, Illuminare, of the Pontifical Mission Societies in Spain, is available in five languages ​​on the PPOOMM website.

180 years after its foundation and a century after the conferral of the title of Pontifical, the text allows for an in-depth study on the origins of the Society of the Holy Childhood or Missionary Childhood and Adolescence, on its charisma, gift of the Holy Spirit to Msgr. Charles de Forbin-Janson, and his spirituality in order to better understand the educational content of this Society, its role in the evangelizing mission of the Church, and its relevance.

Sr. Roberta Tremarelli AMSS, Secretary-General of the Pontifical Society of the Holy Childhood explains in the presentation: “This text by Professor Juan Carlos Carvajal and Rafael Santos Barba, rich in historical analysis and pastoral theological reflection, presents the breadth and depth of the Society, as an evangelizing Work, also highlighting its prophetic aspect with reference to the Holy Childhood of Jesus, the Son of God, who became a child. Jesus, the one sent by the Father, is the center of the Work. His smallness is an example to imitate”.

The volume, published by the International Secretariat of the Pontifical Society of the Holy Childhood, concludes with an extensive quotation from St. John Paul II visiting the Carmel of Lisieux which well represents the spirit of the text, as the authors explain: “The paragraph at the end of our exposition has an undoubted theological density, but it has the virtue of synthesizing the essential nucleus about everything we exposed. In fact, in the light of the life and work of St. Therese of Lisieux, it relates childhood, spiritual childhood, and participation in the mission, to the Mission of the Most Holy Trinity in favor of humanity”.

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