In his weekly catechesis, Pope Francis emphasized that evangelizing is the common vocation of all Christians, including the laity. He said that it is not an individual task reserved only for the clergy, but an ecclesial service for all believers.
SUMMARY OF POPE FRANCIS' CATECHESIS:
Dear brothers and sisters:
In our catechesis on apostolic zeal, we now consider the ecclesial aspect of evangelization. The proclamation of the Gospel is not the task of isolated individuals, but a communal service to the Church’s apostolic faith, which must be passed down in its integrity to every generation. Zeal for the spread of the Gospel is inseparable from this ecclesial dimension, which protects the Christian message from distortion and from accomodation to worldly interests and ways of thinking.
The Vatican II Decree on the Church’s Missionary Activity presents all evangelization as having its source in the immense love of God our Father, poured out on the world through the missions of the Son and the Holy Spirit, and prolonged in the Church’s mission of proclaiming this saving love to all the ends of the earth. As “missionary disciples,” all the baptized are called to imitate the self-sacrificing love of Christ by bearing creative and convincing witness to the truth of his word and its reconciling power, not only for individuals, but for the life of our entire human family.
I extend a warm welcome to the English-speaking pilgrims and visitors taking part in today’s Audience, especially the members of the Wilton Park Conference and the various groups from England, Denmark, Switzerland and the United States of America. With prayerful good wishes that this Lent will be a time of grace and spiritual renewal for you and your families, I invoke upon all of you joy and peace in our Lord Jesus Christ.
