Bishop of Parma, but Missionary to the World

Chapter 6

ll the activities of Bishop Conforti were seen carefully by many people and bishops of Italy.  What most impressed everyone was his ability to balance his total service to his local church and his passionate spirit for the universal church.

"I find everywhere the holy enthusiasm to spread the Gospel

Bishop Conforti was sure that the Church needed to renew itself in order to bring more concrete answers to its ministry and its mission in the world.  He even wrote to Pope Pius XI with the request of declaring a Council of the  Church.  In his letter, Bishop Conforti notes the motivations for a gathering of this magnitude, prophetic ideas for those times: “There are questions of moral, social and international aspects to be answered.  There is the necessity to look into the status of the Eastern Churches, who see opportune to come back to the center of the Catholic unity.  And I find everywhere the holy enthusiasm in clergy and laity to spread the Gospel…” 

The Bishop of Parma was almost like a magnet to those who felt the urgency of missionary formation of the people of God.  The missionary heart of Fr. Manna, founder of PIME missionaries, had the intuition that only through the personal conversion of priests and bishops to the universal mission of the church, he could hope for a missionary re-launching.  At that time, it meant calling forth of new apostles to Asia, Africa and the Pacific Islands.  Bishop Conforti joined wholeheartedly the Missionary Union of the Clergy and became its most active president, which had members throughout Italy.

Among these, a newly ordained priest, who sought the guidance of Bishop Conforti.  His name was Giuseppe Roncalli, in the future Pope John XXIII.  “I sought the advice of Bishop Guido Maria Conforti — he once said as a Pope — for he was the most illuminating bishop in Italy of that missionary movement, which had started after the encyclical of pope Benedict XV, “Maximum Illud.”  I sought Bishop Conforti for in him I found a person who brought together the sacred ministry of caring for souls found in bishops and missionaries: Bishop of Parma, but Missionary for the world.”

Even though he was founder of his Congregation, Bishop Conforti saw himself as a useless servant.  Learning from Jesus on the Cross, he vowed to live his life as a faith journey.  He was called to love, to suffer, to work with Christ and for Christ.  The Xaverian community had to become a living monument of Redeeming Christ, and so call all Christians to their missionary duty.

Knowing how important was the press and the advent of cinema in society, Bishop Conforti wished that his missionaries would use these means for their ministry and apostolate.  He established a missionary periodical called “Faith and Civilization” which expressed his human Christianity.  Today, we would talk about “evangelization and human development.”