Pope Francis: Evangelize with a language of merciful love
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis on Friday received members of the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of the New Evangelization at the end of their Plenary session.
Listen to Lydia O’Kane’s report
During the course of their Plenary session the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of the New Evangelization has been discussing the relationship between evangelization and catechesis and it was on that theme that Pope Francis addressed members of the Council, including its President Archbishop Rino Fisichella.
Speaking to them at the end of their session the Holy Father told them that the Church is called to evangelize at a time of great change. But he stressed in order to proclaim the Gospel, the language used needs to be renewed so it can be understood by all who hear it.
The Pope went on to say that people want a Church that can walk with them, offering a witness of faith, a Church for the marginalized which expresses solidarity with those on the “outskirts of existence”.
Then, getting to the heart of what the true meaning of the new evangelization is, the Holy Father said, it is this: to become aware of the merciful love the Father has for us and also to become instruments of salvation for our brothers.Turning his attention to the Catechesis, as part of the process of evangelization, Pope Francis explained that “it needs to go beyond just the school sphere of educating believers, from childhood because it is an encounter with Christ who awakens the desire to know him better and then to follow him to become his disciples.
Concluding, the Holy Father underlined that the challenge of the new evangelization and catechesis together is played on this fundamental point: “how to meet Christ, and what is the most consistent place to find him and follow him.”
The Pontifical Council for the Promotion of the New Evangelization is undertaking the preparations for the Jubilee of Mercy which opens on December 8th 2015.