MANILA (AsiaNews/Agencies) - The Mission Society of the Philippines (MSP) is the first group of missionary priests founded in Asia to receive the recognition of the Holy See.

The announcement was made at the end of January, during the seventh general assembly of the missionary society. The pontifical decree establishes that the MSP is no longer under the authority of the local bishops, but answers directly to the Holy See through the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples.

Recognition of the status of 'Society of Apostolic Life for mission ad gentes of Pontifical right' confirms the work of the MSP, founded in 1965 by the bishops of the Philippines on the 400th anniversary of the evangelization of the country, "to express in the concrete our gratitude to God for the gift of our faith."

Today the MSP is made up of 72 Filipino priests. Its mission is to "share the gift of faith to the peoples in Asia and the rest of the world," and it is present in thirteen countries on five continents, including Japan (in the photo, a group of missionaries), Taiwan, Thailand, and South Korea, but also the United States, Australia, Holland, and Great Britain.

Apart from the MSP, there are five other missionary institutes created in Asia that answer to the authority of the local Churches. In addition to a second group of priests created in the Philippines, there are two missionary societies present in South Korea and Thailand, and two based in India, one of them of the Syro-Malabar rite.