Vatican News portal reports on a training program for “Holy Childhood animators” in the Diocese of Solwezi, Zambia, organized by the Pontifical Mission Societies (PMS). The article describes a week-long “School of Missionary Animation” (SOMA 1) that concluded with a graduation ceremony at St. Paul Parish, Mutanda, attended by 57 participants including representatives from Angola, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Rwanda. Fr. Vincent Chola, Dean of Mumbezhi Deanery, urged the animators to “passionately impart the content of missionary animation and formation to the children under your pastoral care.” The program promotes the concept of “Children praying for children, children evangelising children, children helping children worldwide,” and encourages children to become “evangelisers to their peers.” The article concludes with a prayer for the success of “Missionary Rosary prayers with children.”
The Illusion of Missionary Activity Without the True Faith
The article presents a facade of vibrant Catholic missionary activity in Africa, yet upon closer examination, it reveals the complete theological bankruptcy of the post-conciliar missionary enterprise. The very concept of “missionary animation” as described—where children are trained to evangelize children—represents a fundamental inversion of the Catholic understanding of the apostolate. Our Lord Jesus Christ did not commission children to evangelize children; He commissioned the Apostles, and through them their successors the bishops, to “teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit” (Mt 28:19). The reduction of the sacred work of evangelization to a program of “animation” conducted by lay volunteers, including school teachers and youth, demonstrates the extent to which the conciliar sect has abandoned the supernatural mission of the Church in favor of naturalistic activism.
The Heresy of “Children Evangelizing Children”
The central thesis of the Holy Childhood program—”children evangelising children”—is not merely theologically erroneous but constitutes a direct contradiction of Catholic ecclesiology. The Church has always taught that the work of evangelization belongs properly to the hierarchy and those legitimately delegated by them. As Pope Pius XI taught in Quas Primas, the Church’s mission is to “teach, govern, and lead all to eternal happiness,” a mission that “cannot depend on anyone’s will.” The idea that children, who themselves require catechetical instruction and spiritual formation, can serve as “evangelisers to their peers” reflects the democratization of the Church that is the hallmark of the conciliar revolution. This is not Catholic missionary work; it is the Protestantization of the apostolate, where the distinction between the teaching Church and the listening Church is dissolved.
The Absence of Supernatural Content
What is most striking about this article is what it omits entirely. There is no mention of the necessity of sanctifying grace, the state of mortal sin, the reality of hell, the necessity of baptism for salvation, or the exclusive mediation of the Blessed Virgin Mary as the dispenser of all graces. The “Missionary Rosary” is mentioned only as a devotional practice to be promoted, without any reference to the traditional Catholic understanding of the Rosary as a weapon against heresy and a means of obtaining the conversion of sinners. The entire program is presented in purely naturalistic terms: “knowledge and skills,” “formation,” “wellbeing,” and “cooperation.” This is the language of secular humanitarianism, not of Catholic missionary activity. As Pope Pius IX warned in the Syllabus of Errors, the Church’s mission cannot be reduced to “the knowledge of merely natural things, and only, or at least primarily, the ends of earthly social life” (Proposition 48).
The Pontifical Mission Societies: From Catholic Apostolate to Conciliar Activism
The Pontifical Mission Societies, once genuine instruments of the Church’s missionary activity, have been entirely captured by the conciliar revolution. The article’s description of the PMS program reveals an organization that has abandoned the traditional Catholic understanding of mission—the salvation of souls through the preaching of the Gospel and the administration of the sacraments—in favor of a vague, humanitarian concept of “missionary animation.” The participation of representatives from Angola, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Rwanda is presented as a sign of success, but in reality, it demonstrates the internationalist character of the conciar sect, which seeks to create a global network of activists loyal to the structures occupying the Vatican rather than to the immutable Catholic faith.
The Role of “Fr.” Vincent Chola and the Conciliar Clergy
The article quotes Fr. Vincent Chola extensively, presenting him as a model of missionary zeal. Yet his words reveal the theological poverty of the conciliar clergy. He speaks of “empowering” animators with “knowledge and skills,” of “passionately imparting” content, and of “embracing the spirit of missionary cooperation.” This is the language of corporate training seminars, not of Catholic pastoral care. There is no mention of the necessity of orthodox catechesis, the dangers of modernism, the importance of the traditional liturgy, or the reality of the crisis in the Church. The “graduation ceremony” at St. Paul Parish, Mutanda, is a parody of genuine Catholic formation, which culminates not in a certificate but in a deeper union with Christ through the sacraments and the practice of the virtues.
The “Missionary Rosary” Without Catholic Doctrine
The article’s concluding reference to “Missionary Rosary prayers with children” is particularly revealing. The Rosary, in the traditional Catholic understanding, is a meditation on the mysteries of the faith—the Incarnation, the Passion, the Resurrection, and the glory of Our Lord and His Blessed Mother. It is a prayer that presupposes a firm belief in the truths of the Catholic faith and a determination to live according to them. In the context of this article, however, the Rosary is reduced to a tool of “missionary animation,” a technique for engaging children in the program’s activities. There is no indication that the children are being taught the traditional Catholic doctrine of the Rosary, the necessity of contrition, or the reality of sin and judgment. This is not the Rosary of St. Dominic and Our Lady of Fatima; it is the Rosary of the conciar sect, emptied of its supernatural content and repurposed as a instrument of naturalistic formation.
The Symptom of Systemic Apostasy
This article is not an isolated example but a symptom of the systemic apostasy that has infected every level of the conciliar structures. The fact that Vatican News—the official media organ of the structures occupying the Vatican—presents this program as a model of Catholic missionary activity demonstrates the extent to which the conciliar sect has abandoned the true mission of the Church. The program’s emphasis on “children helping children” and “children evangelizing children” reflects the conciliar heresy of the “universal priesthood of the faithful,” which has been used to undermine the authority of the hierarchy and reduce the Church to a democratic organization of activists. As Pope Pius X warned in Lamentabili sane exitu, the modernists seek to reduce the Church to “a certain religious movement, applied or applicable to different times and places” (Proposition 59), rather than the immutable society founded by Christ for the salvation of souls.
The Necessity of True Catholic Missionary Activity
The contrast between the program described in this article and genuine Catholic missionary activity could not be more stark. True Catholic mission work, as practiced by the great missionaries of the Church—St. Francis Xavier, St. Peter Claver, St. Damien of Molokai—was characterized by uncompromising fidelity to Catholic doctrine, the administration of the sacraments, the preaching of the Gospel in its entirety, and the willingness to suffer and die for the faith. It was not a program of “animation” but a supernatural work of grace, accomplished through the power of the Holy Spirit and the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The conciliar sect, having abandoned the true faith, can offer only a pale imitation of this work—a program of naturalistic formation that may produce activists but cannot produce saints or save souls.
Conclusion: The Bankruptcy of Conciliar “Mission”
The article from Vatican News is a perfect illustration of the theological and spiritual bankruptcy of the conciliar missionary enterprise. It presents a program that is entirely devoid of supernatural content, that contradicts Catholic ecclesiology, and that reduces the sacred work of evangelization to a naturalistic exercise in “animation” and “cooperation.” The participation of 57 animators from four African countries is presented as a success, but in reality, it is a sign of the conciliar sect’s success in spreading its errors under the guise of Catholic missionary activity. The faithful must reject this counterfeit mission and return to the true Catholic understanding of the apostolate: the preaching of the Gospel, the administration of the sacraments, and the salvation of souls through the merits of Our Lord Jesus Christ, under the guidance of the true Church and in communion with her legitimate pastors.
Source:
Zambia: PMS Solwezi Diocese trains Holy Childhood Animators (vaticannews.va)
Date: 13.05.2026