Originally published at National Catholic Register
There are young people who are called to serve in dangerous places, not just in the military but also as missionaries. The latter call has been heeded by a select few, willing to go where the faith has been oppressed or even absent for centuries.
Project Omnes Gentes is a Catholic missionary initiative of the Order of St. Elijah, based in Argentina, to share the Gospel for the first time to nations who do not know Christ. It organizes short-term missions to the most remote places, including Malawi, Pakistan, Tibet, and Yemen.
CNA interviewed missionaries who recently returned from Pakistan, where they freed nearly 200 Christians from slavery. Rico and Diego are not further identified because of the peril it represents for them and persecuted Christians.
Diego, a young lay Spaniard who recently reconverted to the faith, bravely threw himself into one of the most perilous missions yet undertaken by the order. “Since my conversion about five months ago, I have felt a great need to spread the Gospel,” he told CNA.
Recalling his conversion, he said once leaving Mass as an unbeliever, he suddenly felt an “oppressive presence, like an immense and heavy blanket.” Diego cried out to God
