Pope Benedict on Saturday evening addressed a conference entitled "New Evangelizers
for the New Evangelization - The Word of God grows and spreads" sponsored by the recently
established Pontifical Council for Promoting the New Evangelization.
The Holy
Father began his address by affirming the Word of God is still alive, to this day,
because the Church makes it present through her faithful transmission, in the celebration
of the sacraments and in the testimony of believers, living the same life-blood as
the first Christian community.
Pope Benedict then presented the challenges
the new Pontifical Council faces in today’s world.
”Modern man is often confused
and cannot find answers to many questions which trouble his mind in reference to the
meaning of life and issues that arise in the depths of his heart,” he said. “Man cannot
avoid these questions which touch on the very meaning of self and of reality, nor
can he live in a single dimension. Instead, he often removes himself from the search
for the essential meaning of life, while turning to things which give him fleeting
happiness, a moment’s satisfaction, but which soon leaves him unhappy and unsatisfied.”
Pope
Benedict said despite this condition of modern man, the Word of God continues to grow
and spread. He mentioned three reasons.
“The power of the Word does not depend
primarily on our action…but by God, who hides his power under the guise of weakness…the
second reason is because the seed of the Word…still falls into good soil that produces
fruit… the third reason is that the Gospel has spread to the very ends of the world,
and even in the midst of indifference, misunderstanding, persecution, many continue
today to courageously open their hearts and minds to accept the invitation of Christ
to meet him and become his disciples,” he said.
He said the Pontifical Council
for Promoting the New Evangelization is called to offer special help to the Church's
mission, especially in those countries of ancient Christian tradition which seem to
have become indifferent or even hostile to the Word of God.