Interview with Richard Greenwood of Missio

Missio is the Catholic Church’s official support organisation for overseas mission. The Pope specifically asks Missio to help bring the Good News of Christ to the world, especially in countries where the Church is new, young or poor. Missio cares for and supports the younger churches until they are able to be self-sufficient.

What will be your particular involvement during the Papal visit?

I will be providing materials for the Papal visit website as well as talking about my faith and how it has got me where I am today personally but also talk about overseas missions, as that is what we are about here at Missio. I will also reproduce the messages that the Pope gives out for children of primary school age so that they too can understand, clearly, what is being said.

What do you think the general reaction will be to the Pope's arrival in Britain, from secular society as well as religious?

There is no doubt that the news of his visit is attracting some negative attention and I think an example to give of something similar would be World Youth Day in Sydney in 2008 where the Australian press were extremely negative and hostile about the Pope coming to Australia at all before he had even arrived. But when he arrived, they were so caught up in the emotion of the young people that were there and were so astonished at this one figure drawing everyone together that their attitude changed completely. So I very much hope that the secular press in England will go through a similar transformation in a reaction to the events which take place here in September.

What do you hope will become of this momentous event?

I think that this visit will help us to see the human side of the Pope because although you as young people and many others are questioning themselves and looking for answers – the Pope himself is doing that and I think this is something that people tend to forget all too quickly. So I think that it is important that people get a chance to see the Pope as a person rather than just a name. I also very much appreciate the Pope's bravery in coming to a country which isn't particularly friendly and even hostile towards the him so I think people's respect will increase for him – he could have easily have decided against coming here.

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