Pope Francis issues major document on evangelization (link to full text)

November 26, 2013

The Vatican has released Pope Francis’s apostolic exhortation Evangelii Gaudium [Joy of the Gospel], one of the most important papal documents on evangelization of the past five decades.

The apostolic exhortation, dated November 24 and devoted to the proclamation of the Gospel in today’s world, follows the 13th Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, which took place in October 2012. The synod’s theme was “New Evangelization for the Transmission of the Christian Faith.”

In the decades following the Second Vatican Council, whose documents included the Decree on the Missionary Activity of the Church (Ad Gentes, 1965), Venerable Paul VI issued an apostolic exhortation on evangelization (Evangelii Nuntiandi, 1975), and Blessed John Paul II wrote an encyclical letter on the permanent validity of the Church’s missionary mandate (Redemptoris Missio, 1990).

 

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Further information:

• Pope Francis: Evangelii Gaudium (2013)
• Synod of Bishops
• Second Vatican Council: Ad Gentes (1965)
• Ven. Paul VI: Evangelii Nuntiandi (1975)
• Bl. John Paul II: Redemptoris Missio (1990)
• Release of apostolic exhortation will mark conclusion of Year of Faith (CWN, 11/18)