Evangelisation is "the witness of faith and charity". In these times, when we often encounter an attitude of indifference towards faith, we must "point to the essential," namely Jesus. We must "tread new paths, with courage, and not fossilise," bringing" hope, especially where it is stifled by difficult, sometimes inhuman living conditions, where hope cannot breath, but is suffocated."
The three points indicated by Francis for the path of the new evangelisation are the primacy of bearing witness, the urgency of going towards others, and a pastoral plan centred on the essential.
The pope spoke about them this morning as he addressed the participants in the Plenary Assembly of the Pontifical Council for Promoting the New Evangelisation.
"Many people," the Pope said, "have distanced themselves from the Church. It is wrong to shift the blame from one side to the other; indeed, there is no point in speaking of guilt. There are responsibilities in the history of the Church and its members, as well as in certain ideologies and individuals. As children of the Church, we must continue on the path of the Second Vatican Council, divest ourselves of useless and harmful things, of the false securities of this world that encumber the Church and damage its true essence."
"What we need, especially in these times, are credible witnesses who can, through their life and words, make the Gospel visible, awake the attraction to Jesus Christ, for the beauty of God."
"There is a need for Christians who can show God's mercy and tenderness towards every creature, and his compassion for every creature. We all know that the crisis of contemporary humanity is not superficial but deep. For this reason, whilst it calls for courage to go against the current to convert from idols to the one true God, the new evangelisation cannot but use the language of mercy, which includes deeds and attitudes even more than of words. In today's humanity, the Church says, 'Come to Jesus, all you who are weary and burdened, and you will find rest for your souls (cf. Mt, 11:28-30). Come to Jesus. He alone has the words of eternal life."
"Whoever has encountered Christ, like the Samaritan woman at the well, cannot keep this experience to themselves without feeling the desire to share it, and bring others to Jesus."
From this, we can move to the second point Francis highlighted, namely outreach to others.
"The new evangelisation is a renewed movement towards those who have lost their faith and the deeper meaning of life. This energy is part of Christ's great mission to bring life to the world, [and] the Father's love to humanity. The Son of God 'came out ' of his divine status to meet us. The Church is part of this movement. Every Christian is called to reach out to others, to engage in dialogue with those who do not think like us, those who have another faith, or have no faith. Meeting everyone because we all have in common the fact that we were created in the image and likeness of God [means] we can reach out to all, without fear and without giving up our own affiliation."
For this reason, the Church "is the house where the doors are always open not only to welcome everyone in to breathe love and hope, but also so we can take this love and hope outside. The Holy Spirit urges us to leave our enclosure and guides us to the peripheries of humanity."
"In the Church, all this is not left to chance or improvisation. It requires shared commitment to a pastoral plan that goes to the essential and is well centred on the essential, that is, Jesus Christ. There is no point in spreading ourselves thin in so many secondary or superfluous things; we must instead focus on the fundamental reality, which is the encounter with Christ, his mercy, his love and loving as he has loved us. [We need] a plan moved by the creativity and imagination of the Holy Spirit, that will also leads us to tread new paths, with courage, and not fossilise".
"In this context, I would like to emphasise the importance of catechesis, as a moment of evangelisation. Pope Paul VI acknowledged it in Evangelii nuntiandi (cf n. 44). From there came the great catechetical movement that brought forth a renewal [designed] to overcome the split between the Gospel and the culture and illiteracy of our times in matters of faith. I have mentioned several times a fact that has impressed me in my ministry, namely the children I have met who do not even know how to make the Sign of the Cross! The work of catechists is a valuable service to the new evangelisation." Indeed, "it is important for parents to be the first catechists, the first educators in faith in their own families, by their witness and their words."