Declaring that the Church exists in order to evangelize, the Holy
Father announced on Sunday that the next Synod for bishops, to take
place in 2012, will focus on “new evangelization.”
The Church must work
“to welcome every man and offer him in Christ the fullness of life,” he
said.
This is the Holy Father’s most recent initiative to re-propose the
Gospel message in historically Christian areas.
A new pontifical council
was instituted on Oct 12, under the presidency of Archbishop Rino
Fisichella, for this very purpose.
At the Mass to close the Synod for the Middle East on Sunday morning,
the Pope reported that evangelization was one of the recurring themes
of deliberations. The need to “offer the Gospel anew to people who do
not know it very well or who have even moved away from the Church” was
underlined often, especially by bishops from countries with ancient
Christian roots.
To address this theme, he noted he had consulted the bishops of the
world and the Ordinary Council of the General Secretariat of the Synod
of Bishops.
“I have decided to dedicate the next Ordinary General Assembly, in
2012, to the following theme: ‘Nova evangelizatio ad christianam fidem
tradendam - The new evangelization for the transmission of the Christian
faith’,” he announced.
Before the Sunday Angelus, he explained his choice for the theme of
the next Synod as a continuation of recent Church initiatives.
Since the
Synod for the Middle East and World Mission Sunday 2010 both were
developed around the idea of communion, he said, they are invitations to
"look at the Church as a mystery of communion that, by its nature, is
destined to all man and to all men."
He highlighted the words of Pope Paul VI in this regard, who said in
1975 that the Church "exists in order to evangelize, that is to say, in
order to preach and teach, to be the channel of the gift of grace, to
reconcile sinners with God, and to perpetuate Christ's sacrifice in the
Mass, which is the memorial of His death and glorious resurrection."
And, for this reason, said Pope Benedict, the next world assembly of bishops will examine "new evangelization."
He explained that "in every time and every place - also today in the
Middle East - the Church is present and works to welcome every man and
offer him in Christ the fullness of life."
The missionary task, he explained, "is not to revolutionize the
world, but to transfigure it, drawing on the strength of Jesus Christ."
Pope Benedict concluded his pre-Angelus address by entrusting the
Christians of the Middle East and all missionaries of the Gospel to the
Virgin Mary, who received from Christ the "new mission of being the
Mother of all those who wish to believe in Him and follow Him."
The 2012 Synod will be the fifth of Benedict XVI's pontificate.
The
first, in 2005, examined the Eucharist and was followed by Synods on the
Bible in 2008, Africa in 2009 and this year's Synod for the Middle
East.
SIC: CNA/INT'L