StFX
Sounds like some special effects specialist, doesn’t it?
Well, St. Francis Xavier was one powerful specialist at being effective in his own form of global communication. Starting in Paris and Venice, he traveled to Mozambique for a little while, and then on to India.
There he began preaching to the natives and attempted to reform his fellow Europeans, living among the natives and adopting their customs on his travels. During the next decade he converted tens of thousands to Christianity.
His zeal was amazing. So was his determination.
 He visited the Paravas at the tip of India. near Cape Comorin, Tuticorin (1542), Malacca (1545), the Moluccas near New Guinea and Morotai near the Philippines (1546-47), and Japan (1549- 51)…
In 1552 he set out for China, landed on the island of Sancian within sight of his goal, but died before he reached the mainland.
He died trying. Trying as hard as anybody ever did.
Working against great difficulties, language problems ( contrary to legend, he had no proficiency in foreign tongues ), inadequate funds, and lack of cooperation, often actual resistance, from European officials, he left the mark of his missionary zeal and energy on areas which clung to Christianity for centuries.
Interesting continuity of that work in one of the messages released today by VIS, though just about everything Pope Benedict says continues that work and its message. This one is loaded, when you really parse it. Especially this part:
At the same time, international discussions often seem marked by a relativistic logic which would consider as the sole guarantee of peaceful coexistence between peoples a refusal to admit the truth about man and his dignity, to say nothing of the possibility of ethics based on recognition of the natural moral law. This has led, in effect, to the imposition of a notion of law and politics which ultimately makes consensus between states, … the only real basis of international norms.
(emphasis added)
Among “the bitter fruits of this relativistic logic,” the Pope mentioned “the attempt to consider as human rights the consequences of certain self- centered lifestyles; a lack of concern for the economic and social needs of the poorer nations; contempt for humanitarian law, and a selective defense of human rights.”
Wow, that covers a lot. So he says, essentially, go out there and counter this relativism, by doing what Francis Xavier did (though he didn’t mention him by name). Stand for the truth about human dignity and human rights.
“What is needed,” Pope Benedict added, “is a spirit of solidarity conducive for promoting as a body those ethical principles which, by their very nature and their role as the basis of social life, remain non-negotiable.
So, consensus when it is grounded in truth with the spirit of solidarity, but no capitulation on the non-negotiables of natural law….just for the sake of consensus.
“When experienced in solidarity, legitimate pluralism and diversity will lead not to division and competition, but to ever greater effectiveness.”
Sounds like StFX.