The Vatican will publish Pope
Francis' first apostolic exhortation Nov. 26, two days after he formally
delivers it to the church at a Mass concluding the 2012-13 Year of
Faith.
The Vatican announced Nov. 18 that "Evangelii Gaudium" ("The Joy of the
Gospel") will be presented at a news conference featuring Archbishop
Rino Fisichella, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting New
Evangelization; Archbishop Lorenzo Baldisseri, secretary general of the
Synod of Bishops; and Archbishop Claudio Celli, president of the
Pontifical Council for Social Communications.
Apostolic exhortations, one of the most authoritative forms of papal
writing, are often based on deliberations of synods of bishops.
"Evangelii Gaudium" is expected to take into account the October 2012
synod on the new evangelization, held at the beginning of the Year of
Faith.
However, last June, Pope Francis told the ordinary council of the Synod
of Bishops, which is normally responsible for helping draft post-synodal
apostolic exhortations, that he would not be working from their draft.
Instead, the pope said, he planned to write an "exhortation on
evangelization in general and, within it, refer to the synod," in order
to "take everything from the synod but put it in a wider framework."
Pope Francis formally delivered the document Nov. 24 in St. Peter's
Square, at the concluding Mass of the Year of Faith, giving copies to a
Latvian bishop, a Tanzanian priest and a deacon from Australia.
The pope
also gave copies to members of men's and women's religious orders,
and to representatives of other groups of faithful, including
seminarians, families and members of ecclesial movements.
A visually
impaired Catholic received the document in the form of a CD-ROM
allowing for audio reproduction.
A Japanese sculptor and a Polish painter received the apostolic
exhortation on behalf of the artistic world, Archbishop Fisichella said,
and two journalists done likewise on behalf of the media.