New Evangelization needed to answer crisis of secularism, Pope says

May 30, 2011

Meeting on May 30 with the staff of the Pontifical Council for the New Evangelization, Pope Benedict XVI said that their work is needed in response to "the crisis we are living through."

"The mission hasn't changed," the Holy Father told the members of the newly created Pontifical Council. The Church is always dedicated to spreading the Gospel. But today that mission calls for "a new way of evangelizing," in light of the damage done by secularization, which has "left deep scars on even traditionally Christian countries."

The crisis of secularism, the Pope continued, has produced in many societies “the exclusion of God from people’s lives, a general indifference towards the Christian faith, an attempt to marginalize it from public life.” In countries once formed on the basis of a Christian heritage, he said, “we are witnessing the tragedy of a fragmentation which no longer allows for a unifying reference point.”

To answer the challenge, the Pope said, after long reflection he decided to create the new Pontifical Council for the New Evangelization, which is now headed by Archbishop Salvatore Fisichella. He encouraged the group to recognize the urgency of its work: to "revive the missionary spirit."

 

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Further information:

• Enthusiasm and Courage Give Start to Proclaiming Christ (VIS)
• New Evangelization: Christians who are credible in what they say and do