A city mission is not something new: one was called for by the Pope in Rome in preparation for the Great Jubilee of the year 2000. The first phase of this mission, which is still continuing, had a duration of three years during which 1,200,000 copies of Mark’s Gospel were distributed and a million copies of the Acts of the Apostles donated. Some 13,000 persons were involved in visits to families, and 1,500 in visits to institutions. At the end of the three-year period, John Paul II, Bishop of Rome, declared: “From now on a general effort needs to be made to enable the ‘spirit of the city mission’ increasingly to penetrate the ordinary and day-to-day pastoral work of the parishes and of the ecclesial movements. The mission needs to be considered by everyone as an ‘ongoing commitment’ and involve the whole people of God…”.
