The effort to renew the evangelization of mankind begins in the human
heart, Pope Benedict XVI told the clergy, religious and laity of the
Diocese of Rome, June 13.
“To be effective the proclamation of faith must begin with a heart
that believes, hopes, loves, a heart that loves Christ and believes in
the power of the Holy Spirit!” the Pope told those gathered at St. John
Lateran Cathedral for the Rome diocese’s annual convention.
The Pope pointed to how St. Peter’s proclamationof Jesus’
resurrection at Pentecost was “not confined to a simple list of facts”
but “cut to the heart” of those who heard him.
“The resurrection of Jesus was able and is able to illuminate human
existence. In fact, this event has seen a new understanding of the
dignity of man and his eternal destiny.”
Mindful of his responsibility to lead the 2.5 million Catholics in
the Diocese of Rome, Pope Benedict told those in St. John Lateran that
there was a real danger to the health of the Church if it downplays the
divinity of Jesus Christ.
“If people forget God it is also because the person of Jesus is often
reduced to that of a wise man and his divinity is weakened, if not
denied. This way of thinking prevents people from grasping the radical
novelty of Christianity, because if Jesus is not the only Son of the
Father, then God never came to visit the history of man.”
This message was crucial to renewing Christianity within the ancient
See of Rome, the Pope recalled, saying it is “the task not only of some,
but all members of the Church” to proclaim it.
“In this hour of history, is this not the mission that God entrusts
to us: to announce the permanent newness of the Gospel, as Peter and
Paul did when they came to our city? Do we not also need to show the
beauty and the reasonableness of faith, bringing the light of God to man
in our time, with courage, conviction, and joy?”
He particularly urged that the teaching of the Christian faith –
known as catechesis – be undertaken not only with children and young
people but also with “adults who have not received baptism, or who
distanced themselves from the faith and the Church.”
The consequence of people lacking such an intellectual and spiritual
formation is that they can sometimes acquire a distorted view of Jesus
Christ and Christianity.
Such people “do not know the beauty of Christianity, indeed,
sometimes they even consider it an obstacle to happiness,” Pope Benedict
said.
He finished his address by urging all present to pray to his
predecessor Blessed Pope John Paul II, “who until his last strove to
preach the gospel in our city and loved its young people with particular
affection.”