On his third participation in the SFSD, Cardinal López first briefly summarised the many areas of work and the many dimensions of fruitfulness the Salesian Family's missions – from the point of view of evangelisation, education, social promotion, agricultural development, the dissemination of trades, health care, the dissemination of communications, the protection of cultural minorities... "In summary, we should rather ask ourselves what the Salesian missionaries did not do," he commented.

And yet, as he added after examining the many activities carried out: "Was this their mission? Was being a missionary about doing all these activities?” His lucid and concrete analysis distinguished the authentic meaning of mission – in short, love – from merely activities carried out to manifest it.

In the course of his address, the cardinal carried out an effective distinction that separated common but erroneous attitudes on the missions from the authentic value of the Salesian mission. Thus he listed:

–         Confusing mission with apostolic activities. Cardinal López emphasised that ‘the mission is to love’ and is not reduced to educating, building or healing, because it has to do, if anything, with being ‘signs and bearers of God's love for young people’;

–         Seeking a reward in love. On the contrary, the missionary must not love in order to be loved, but offer an "unconditional, free and expansive" love, like God's love;

–         Believing that the mission is for a few specialists. Instead, every Christian is called to be a missionary wherever they are, without the need to leave for distant lands;

–         Connecting the mission to a geographical dimension. The mission is universal and must be lived in every context, not only in traditional "mission countries", since even territories of ancient Christian tradition need missionaries;

–         Believing that going as missionaries elsewhere does not make sense. With this point, apparently in contradiction to the previous ones, Cardinal López stressed that the missionary dimension of the Church is based on the sharing of faith and that the presence of missionaries remains fundamental to awaken the missionary conscience in everyone;

–         Thinking that the mission is to implant the Church. In this regard, the cardinal stressed  that the main mission is the proclamation of the Kingdom of God, not establishing ecclesial structures. The cardinal also highlighted the commitment of good missionaries in cooperating with all believers and all people of good will;

–         Forgetting the role of the Holy Spirit.  We must not place ourselves at the centre and consider ourselves the first authors of the mission: the Holy Spirit is the first missionary and is already at work in the hearts of people even before the arrival of the missionaries.

The reflection of Cardinal López was, therefore, a heartfelt invitation for a return to the essentials. And in his concluding words the cardinal gave a precise summary of his entire adadress, stating: "We are all missionary disciples of Christ and his Kingdom (...) As a church, we must live at the service of the mission always and everywhere, and the mission, which consists in announcing and promoting the Kingdom of God, is realised, for us of the Salesian Family, in loving and being signs and bearers of God's love for young people".

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