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."
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