First Apostolic Exhortation
Pope Francis 2013
Pope Francis has issued his first Apostolic
Exhortation on Tuesday, Evangelii Gaudium, translated into English as The Joy
of the Gospel. The 224-page document outlines the Pope’s vision for a
missionary Church, whose “doors should always be open”.
The Pope speaks on numerous themes, including
evangelization, peace, homiletics, social justice, the family, respect for
creation, faith and politics, ecumenism, interreligious dialogue, and the role
of women and of the laity in the Church.
The Joy of the Gospel is the title Pope Francis
has chosen for this first major document of his pontificate, putting down in
print the joyous spirit of encounter with Christ that characterizes every
public appearance he has made so far.
The man who has constantly kept the media’s
attention with his desire to embrace and share his faith with everyone he
meets, now urges usto do exactly the same. To “recover the original freshness
of the Gospel”, as he puts it, through a thorough renewal of the Church’s
structures and vision. Including what he calls “a conversion of the papacy” to
make it better able to serve the mission of evangelization in the modern world.
The Church, he says, should not be afraid to
re-examine “customs not directly connected to the heart of the Gospel” even if
they may have deep historical roots.
In strikingly direct and personal language, the
Pope appeals to all Christians to bring about a “revolution of tenderness” by
opening their hearts each day to God’s unfailing love and forgiveness. The
great danger in today’s consumer society, he says, is “the desolation and
anguish” that comes from a “covetous heart, the feverish pursuit of frivolous
pleasures, and a blunted conscience.” Whenever our interior life becomes caught
up in its own interests , he warns, “there is no longer room for others, no
place for the poor.
”As we open our hearts, the Pope goes on, so the
doors of our churches must always be open and the sacraments available to all.
The Eucharist, he says pointedly, “is not a prize for the perfect, but a
powerful medicine and nourishment for the weak” And he repeats his ideal of a
Church that is “bruised, hurting and dirty because it has been out on the
streets” rather than a Church that is caught up in a slavish preoccupation with
liturgy and doctrine, procedure and prestige.
“God save us,” he exclaims, “from a worldly
Church with superficial spiritual and pastoral trappings!” Urging a greater
role for the laity, the Pope warns of “excessive clericalism” and calls for “a
more incisive female presence in the Church”, especially “where important
decisions are made.”
Looking beyond the Church, Pope Francis
denounces the current economic system as “unjust at its root”, based on a
tyranny of the marketplace, in which financial speculation, widespread
corruption and tax evasion reign supreme. He also denounces attacks on
religious freedom and new persecutions directed against Christians.
Noting that secularization has eroded ethical
values, producing a sense of disorientation and superficiality, the Pope
highlights the importance of marriage and stable family relationships.
Returning to his vision of a Church that is poor and for the poor, the Pope
urges us to pay particular attention to those on the margins of society,
including the homeless, the addicted, refugees, indigenous peoples, the
elderly, migrants, victims of trafficking and unborn children.
While it is not “progressive” to try to resolve
problems by eliminating a human life, he says, it’s also true that “we have
done little to adequately accompany women in very difficult situations, where
abortion appears as a quick solution to their profound anguish.”
Finally the new papal document also focuses on
the themes of promoting peace, justice and fraternity, through patient and
respectful dialogue with all people of all faiths and none. Better relations
with other Christians, with Jews and with Muslims are all seen as indispensable
ways of promoting peace and combatting fundamentalism.
While urging Christians to “avoid hateful
generalisations” about Islam, the Pope also calls “humbly” on Islamic countries
to guarantee full religious freedom to Christians.”
Exhortation by Pope Francis 2013 Key Points
To absorb quickly the key points in what is a
47,500 word document, ucanews.com highlights some significant sections in the
Apostolic Exhortation of Pope Francis, Evangelii Gaudium.
This exhortation is sweeping, bold and
programmatic. Its status is not that of an encyclical but an apostolic
exhortation, which may be deliberate. Pope Paul Vi never wrote another
encyclical after Humanae Vitae (in 1968) was widely disputed, preferring instead
to write in a less authoritative way so as to invite and persuade, rather than
direct and command. The encyclical pattern was resumed by Popes John Paul II
and Benedict XVI.
Nonetheless, this is clearly a blueprint for
his pontificate.
Decentralization of Church governance is the
most dramatic innovation, especially the pope's call to give more juridical
power to bishops' conferences. This seems to overturn the earlier approach
favored in the Vatican and outlined in Pope John Paul's Apostolos Suos.
Pope Francis is calling for a re-examination of customs, rules and precepts
that have had significant influence in Church governance and operation.
With that as background, here is our selection
of key points:
16. Countless issues involving evangelization today might be
discussed here, but I have chosen not to explore these many questions which
call for further reflection and study. Nor do I believe that the papal
magisterium should be expected to offer a definitive or complete word on every
question which affects the Church and the world. It is not advisable for the
Pope to take the place of local Bishops in the discernment of every issue which
arises in their territory. In this sense, I am conscious of the need to promote
a sound “decentralization”.
25. I am aware that nowadays documents do not arouse the same
interest as in the past and that they are quickly forgotten. Nevertheless, I
want to emphasize that what I am trying to express here has a programmatic significance
and important consequences. I hope that all communities will devote the
necessary effort to advancing along the path of a pastoral and missionary
conversion which cannot leave things as they presently are. “Mere
administration” can no longer be enough.[21] Throughout the world, let us be
“permanently in a state of mission”.[22]
The papacy and the central structures of the universal Church
also need to hear the call to pastoral conversion. The Second Vatican Council
stated that, like the ancient patriarchal Churches, episcopal conferences are
in a position “to contribute in many and fruitful ways to the concrete
realization of the collegial spirit”.[36] Yet this desire has not been fully
realized, since a juridical status of episcopal conferences which would see
them as subjects of specific attributions, including genuine doctrinal
authority, has not yet been sufficiently elaborated.[37] Excessive
centralization, rather than proving helpful, complicates the Church’s life and
her missionary outreach.
43. In her ongoing discernment, the Church can also come to see
that certain customs not directly connected to the heart of the Gospel, even
some which have deep historical roots, are no longer properly understood and
appreciated. Some of these customs may be beautiful, but they no longer serve
as means of communicating the Gospel. We should not be afraid to re-examine
them. At the same time, the Church has rules or precepts which may have been
quite effective in their time, but no longer have the same usefulness for
directing and shaping people’s lives. Saint Thomas Aquinas pointed out that the
precepts which Christ and the apostles gave to the people of God “are very
few”.[47] Citing Saint Augustine, he noted that the precepts subsequently
enjoined by the Church should be insisted upon with moderation “so as not to
burden the lives of the faithful” and make our religion a form of servitude,
whereas “God’s mercy has willed that we should be free”.[48] This warning,
issued many centuries ago, is most timely today. It ought to be one of the
criteria to be taken into account in considering a the reform of the Church and
her preaching which would enable it to reach everyone.
47. The Church is called to be the house of the Father, with
doors always wide open. One concrete sign of such openness is that our church
doors should always be open, so that if someone, moved by the Spirit, comes
there looking for God, he or she will not find a closed door. There are other
doors that should not be closed either. Everyone can share in some way in the
life of the Church; everyone can be part of the community, nor should the doors
of the sacraments be closed for simply any reason. This is especially true of
the sacrament which is itself “the door”: baptism. The Eucharist, although it
is the fullness of sacramental life, is not a prize for the perfect but a
powerful medicine and nourishment for the weak.[51] These convictions have
pastoral consequences that we are called to consider with prudence and
boldness. Frequently, we act as arbiters of grace rather than its facilitators.
But the Church is not a tollhouse; it is the house of the Father, where there
is a place for everyone, with all their problems.
104. The reservation of the priesthood to males, as a sign of
Christ the Spouse who gives himself in the Eucharist, is not a question open to
discussion, but it can prove especially divisive if sacramental power is too
closely identified with power in general. It must be remembered that when we
speak of sacramental power “we are in the realm of function, not that of
dignity or holiness”.[73] The ministerial priesthood is one means employed by
Jesus for the service of his people, yet our great dignity derives from
baptism, which is accessible to all. The configuration of the priest to Christ
the head – namely, as the principal source of grace – does not imply an
exaltation which would set him above others. In the Church, functions “do not
favour the superiority of some vis-à-vis the others”.[74] Indeed, a woman,
Mary, is more important than the bishops. Even when the function of ministerial
priesthood is considered “hierarchical”, it must be remembered that “it is
totally ordered to the holiness of Christ’s members”.[75] Its key and axis is
not power understood as domination, but the power to administer the sacrament
of the Eucharist; this is the origin of its authority, which is always a
service to God’s people. This presents a great challenge for pastors and
theologians, who are in a position to recognize more fully what this entails with
regard to the possible role of women in decision-making in different areas of
the Church’s life.
118. The Bishops of Oceania asked that the Church “develop an
understanding and a presentation of the truth of Christ working from the
traditions and cultures of the region” and invited “all missionaries to work in
harmony with indigenous Christians so as to ensure that the faith and the life
of the Church be expressed in legitimate forms appropriate for each
culture”.[94] We cannot demand that peoples of every continent, in expressing
their Christian faith, imitate modes of expression which European nations
developed at a particular moment of their history, because the faith cannot be
constricted to the limits of understanding and expression of any one culture.[95]
It is an indisputable fact that no single culture can exhaust the mystery of
our redemption in Christ.
143. The challenge of an inculturated preaching consists in
proclaiming a synthesis, not ideas or detached values. Where your synthesis is,
there lies your heart. The difference between enlightening people with a
synthesis and doing so with detached ideas is like the difference between
boredom and heartfelt fervour. The preacher has the wonderful but difficult
task of joining loving hearts, the hearts of the Lord and his people. The
dialogue between God and his people further strengthens the covenant between
them and consolidates the bond of charity. In the course of the homily, the
hearts of believers keep silence and allow God to speak. The Lord and his
people speak to one another in a thousand ways directly, without
intermediaries. But in the homily they want someone to serve as an instrument
and to express their feelings in such a way that afterwards, each one may chose
how he or she will continue the conversation. The word is essentially a
mediator and requires not just the two who dialogue but also an intermediary
who presents it for what it is, out of the conviction that “what we preach is
not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for
Jesus’ sake” (2 Cor 4:5).
154.
The preacher also needs to keep his ear to the people and to discover what it
is that the faithful need to hear. A preacher has to contemplate the word, but
he also has to contemplate his people. In this way he learns “of the
aspirations, of riches and limitations, of ways of praying, of loving, of
looking at life and the world, which distinguish this or that human gathering,”
while paying attention “to actual people, to using their language, their signs
and symbols, to answering the questions they ask”.[120] He needs to be able to
link the message of a biblical text to a human situation, to an experience
which cries out for the light of God’s word. This interest has nothing to do
with shrewdness or calculation; it is profoundly religious and pastoral.
Fundamentally it is a “spiritual sensitivity for reading God’s message in
events”,[121] and this is much more than simply finding something interesting
to say. What we are looking for is “what the Lord has to say in this or that
particular circumstance”.[122] Preparation for preaching thus becomes an
exercise in evangelical discernment, wherein we strive to recognize – in the
light of the Spirit – “a call which God causes to resound in the historical
situation itself. In this situation, and also through it, God calls the
believer.”[123]
