Faced with the contemporary
crisis, the "exclusion of God from people's lives", with
“fragmentation", with the lack of "unifying references”, there is a need
to" revive the missionary spirit "for proclamation and to offer a
"genuine credibility"; these are the ingredients that Benedict XVI
suggested Monday to members of the newly formed dicastery for Promotion
of the New Evangelization, meeting in plenary for the first time.
In his speech, the pope recalled that the new Pontifical
Council was born last June 28 after a "a long period" of personal
reflection on the urgent need to address the crisis of Christianity in
countries with an ancient tradition.
"Today - said the pontiff - ... the
new Pontifical Council has become a reality."
During the year, the new
president, Mgr. Rino Fisichella, has gradually been joined by several
advisory members.
The pope encouraged them all to make a special
contribution to the XIII Synod of Bishops, in October 2012, which will
focus precisely on the "new evangelization and transmission of Christian
faith."
For Benedict XVI, the urgency of a new evangelization has been
present since the Second Vatican Council, the need for which has now
clearly emerged.
"The crisis currently experienced - said the pope -
brings with it the traits of the exclusion of God from the life of the
people, a general indifference to the Christian faith, an attempt to
marginalize it from public life. In the past decades it was still
possible to find a general Christian sense that unified the common
feeling of entire generations, who grew up in the shade of the faith
that had shaped culture. Unfortunately, today we witness the tragedy of
fragmentation which no longer allows for a unifying reference point, in
addition, there is often the phenomenon of people who wish to belong to
the Church, but are strongly shaped by a vision of life in contrast to
the faith."
Although "proclaiming Jesus Christ as the only Savior of the
world is more complex today than in the past," the mission has not
changed, just as the enthusiasm and courage that moved the Apostles and
first disciples must not change. "
Today, this proclamation must attempt to "convince contemporary
man, often distracted and unresponsive" at the same time, it must
support the faithful in the "difficult relationship with modernity:"
Being Christian is not a kind of clothing to be worn privately or on
special occasions, but it is something living and all-encompassing,
capable of assimilating all that is good in modern times. "
For the pope, there are two paths to follow: on the one hand,
there is a need to "revive the missionary spirit to give the good news
that the people of our time waiting for" on the other, it should be
noted that "the lifestyle of believers needs a genuine credibility, the
more dramatic the condition of those they serve, the more convincing it
must be".
Quoting Paul VI’s Evangelii Nuntiandi, he concludes:
"It is by her conduct, by her life that the Church will evangelize the
world, namely through her living witness of fidelity to the Lord Jesus,
poverty and detachment, of freedom from the powers of this world, in a
word, holiness."