10th World Congress of the Word of God in Chinese - Taiwan

"Witnessing the Word of God, a new Evangelization - Pour new wine into fresh wineskins, and both are preserved (Mt 9:17)": was the theme of the X World Congress of the Word of God in Chinese, held from January 22 to 26 in Tai Pei, organized by the Bible Association in Chinese. 

Frs. Rossa and Jijo of the Claretian Publications, Macau participated in the 10th World Congress

Over 300 faithful attended the Congress from all over the world. As a point of reference of the work, the Congress took the Apostolic Exhortation of the Pope Francis "Evangelii Gaudium", with the aim to "reflect, share, listen, celebrate, study and to put oneself at the service of the Word of God in the Church, in order to spread the Word of God in the world, so that the Word of God may always be the core of the life and mission of the Church".  

Presenting the Chinese edition of Evangelii Gaudium , published by the Claretians 

Claretian Publications had printed the document both in English and Chinese. Each of the participants was given a copy of the Apostolic Exhortation and the New Testament in Chinese, also published by the Claretians in Macau. 

Fr. Rossa with Bishop Joseph Ha, Auxiliary Bishop of Hong Kong 

Some important anniversaries were mentioned: 

50th anniversary of the closing of the II Vatican Council and the publication of the Conciliar Dogmatic Constitution Dei Verbum; 

40 years of the publication of the Apostolic Exhortation of Bl. Pope Paul VI - Evangelii Nuntiandi 

15 years of the canonization of the Chinese martyrs; 

3 years since the beatification of Fr. Gabriele Allegra, who translated the entire Bible in Chinese; 

25th anniversary of the foundation of the Bible Association in Chinese.

Farewell Mass

Based on these ecclesial events, the participants highlighted that the Word of God has shaped the beauty of the many aspects of the life and mission of the individual communities. They also presented their pastoral and missionary work, committed to spreading the word of God in the contemporary world through new tools and new technologies, like the Internet, social networks ... Finally they proclaimed 2015 as the "Pastoral Year of the Sacred Scripture".