Quam aerumnosa

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Quam aerumnosa is an encyclical of Pope Leo XIII. which was published December 10, 1888. It has the subtitle: "About the Italian immigrants in America".

Immigrants in America

The Pope describes the difficulties that arise for Italian immigrants in the United States of America . It is very difficult to become naturalized in this country, to speak its language and to find work, so they need the special care of the Church. However, there is a lack of trained priests and therefore there is a risk that the sacraments cannot be carried out in the prescribed manner.

The duty of the church

Leo XIII. declares that this creates a special duty for the pastors of the community and that this matter has already been discussed in the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples (Congregatio de Propaganda Fides) and that the decision has been made to send priests from Italy to America. It is intended to advertise the evangelization task among the students and to organize the training also with regard to language.

Language problems

Cardinal Diomede Falconio (1842–1917) took up this encyclical when he was in 1902 as an apostolic delegate in the United States of America. From this encyclical he particularly recalled the linguistic problems of the Italian immigrants and demanded that priests and bishops , for example , should come from this ethnic minority and that the least possible requirement was that they could speak at least the language of the minority.

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