POSI: The bulletin now in its 18th edition is online

The bulletin of the Pontifical Society of the Holy Childhood is now online. It is the first to be signed by the new secretary general of POSI, Sr. Inês Paulo Albino, A.S.C., who in the editorial, in addition to introducing herself and recalling her previous role as director of the Pontifical Missionary Societies (PMS) in Guinea Bissau, her homeland, expressed deep gratitude to Sr. Roberta Tremarelli who preceded her in the role.

Sr. Inês Paulo Albino then addressed the children and adolescents of POSI and exhorted them: “Whisper with your will to live, with prayer, with sacrifice and with the sharing of what you are and what you have, that is, with your concrete missionary life and the witness of your Christian life, the Gospel of Christ in the hearts of peoples and cultures to continue to create a new world, using all means of communication”.

The bulletin, full of news from around the world, in this issue a significant space is dedicated to Rafael Santos Barba from the National Direction of the PMS of Spain who, in a text also rich in many historical quotations, fruit of studies and research, reconstructs the genesis of the original definition of the Pontifical Society of the Holy Childhood as a Society of Redemption. If redemption, baptism and education constituted the three axes of the Societies' mission, Rafael Santos emphasizes that the novelty lies “in the inspiration received from Bishop de Forbin-Janson in affirming that children are involved in this salvific redemption, participating in it through their union with the Christ Child, brought about by baptism”.

At the heart of this issue is a special feature on the Xaverian Missionaries of Mary, the female branch of the Xaverian Missionary Congregation, who are found all over the world and work in many countries with Missionary Childhood and Adolescence. The special offers a mapping of the countries where they work in favour of and to promote the values and spirit of POSI with a different cultural declination depending on the contexts. South and North Brazil, Mexico, Cameroon, Chad, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Japan and Thailand are the countries covered in the special issue, which is followed in the bulletin by the ‘Children's Voice’ column highlighting the support that POSI offers to different realities around the world, where contributions are often intended to cover subsistence costs before those for the purchase of school materials.

The testimonies in this issue come from the dioceses of Cabinda in Angola, Bissau in Guinea Bissau, Belthangadi in India, Ambositra in Madagascar, the Apostolic Vicariate of San Ramòn in Peru, the diocese of Mamfe in Cameroon and the diocese of Gikongoro in Rwanda. Space was also given to the experience of the Youth Mission of the Franciscan Sisters of the Gospel. Closing the bulletin are two detailed reports of the activities of POSI in the national directions of the PMS of Chile and Laos and Cambodia, with direct testimonies from children and adolescents. The last page of this issue is dedicated to missionary play.