Pope to conclude meeting on the New Evangelisation

(15, 11.2011) Pope Benedict XVI will preside over a Eucharistic celebration in the Vatican Basilica, Sunday, at the conclusion of the first International Meeting sponsored by Vatican’s Pontifical Council for the promotion of the New Evangelisation. The newly set up dicastery recalls the words of Blessed John Paul II " Look to the future with commitment to a New Evangelization, one that is new in its ardour, new in its methods, and new in its means of expression." It is the building up of a civilization of love. Triple aim of the new evangelisation is first of all proclaiming the gospel to people who have not heard the words of the gospel, Secondly to practising Catholics to enliven their faith, and thirdly- perhaps hardest of all- to the faithful of the traditionally Christian countries of Europe and sometimes in the new churches too, to "promote a renewed evangelisation" in environments where the Church has long existed "but which are living a progressive secularisation of society and a sort of 'eclipse of the sense of God'." The new evangelisation has passed through various stages, from the second vatican council, through the encyclical of Pope Paul VI “Evangelii nuntiandi” to the setting up of a new dicastery by Pope Benedict. We must rekindle in ourselves the impetus of the beginnings and allow ourselves to be filled with the ardour of the apostolic preaching which followed Pentecost, the Popes tell us.