In a surprisingly early release from the Holy Father of his message for the October 23 celebration of World Mission Sunday, the words are a call for all the faithful to accept the mandate of Christ to teach the Faith both to those who have never heard the gospel and to those who have abandoned it and succumbed to the new anti-culture.
Here is a clip: This task has not lost its urgency. On the contrary, “the mission of Christ Redeemer, entrusted to the Church, is still far from being accomplished … a global look on humanity shows that this mission is still at the beginning and that we must commit ourselves with all our energies in its service” (John Paul II, “Redemptoris Missio,” No. 1). We cannot remain tranquil in face of the thought that, after two thousand years, there are still peoples who do not know Christ and have not yet heard his message of salvation.
Not only this; the multitude grows of those that, even having received the proclamation of the Gospel, have forgotten and abandoned it, not recognizing themselves now in the Church; and many environments, also in traditionally Christian societies, today are refractory in opening themselves to the word of faith. Underway is a cultural change, fueled also by globalization, by movements of thought and by the prevailing relativism, a change that leads to a mentality and a lifestyle that does without the evangelical message, as if God did not exist, and which exalts the search for well-being, easy earnings, careers and success as the objective of life, even at the cost of moral values. Full text is on Zenit website here.
