VATICAN CITY (CNS) — In his first extensive piece of writing as pope, Pope Francis lays out a vision of the Catholic Church dedicated to evangelization in a positive key, with a focus on society’s poorest and most vulnerable, including the aged and unborn. "Evangelii Gaudium" ("The Joy of the Gospel"), released by the Vatican Nov. 26, is an apostolic exhortation, one of the most authoritative categories of papal document. (Pope Francis’ first encyclical, "Lumen Fidei," published in July, was mostly the work of his predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI.) The pope wrote the new document in response to the October 2012 Synod of Bishops on the new evangelization, but declined to work from a draft provided by synod officials. Pope Francis’ voice is unmistakable in the 50,000-word document’s relatively relaxed style – he writes that an "evangelizer must never look like someone who has just come back from a funeral!" – and its emphasis on some of his signature themes, including the dangers of economic globalization and "spiritual worldliness." The church’s message "has to concentrate on the essentials, on what is most beautiful, most grand, most appealing and at the same time most necessary," he writes. "In this basic core, what shines forth is the beauty of the saving love of God made manifest in Jesus Christ who died and rose from the dead." Here are a few of the main features of Pope Francis’ apostolic exhortation, "Evangelii Gaudium" ("The Joy of the Gospel"): • With a mix of conversational style and formal papal magisterial language, Pope Francis sets forth a vision for giving the entire church, at every level, a missionary thrust; he anticipates some objections and confusion, but asks everyone to give it a try. • Inspired by Jesus’ poverty and concern for the dispossessed during his earthly ministry, Pope Francis calls for a "church which is poor and for the poor." The poor "have much to teach us," he writes. "We are called to find Christ in them, to lend our voices to their causes, but also to be their friends, to listen to them, to speak for them and to embrace the mysterious wisdom which God wishes to share with us through them." • Charity is more than mere handouts, "it means working to eliminate the structural causes of poverty and to promote the integral development of the poor," the pope writes. "This means education, access to health care, and above all employment, for it is through free creative, participatory and mutually supportive labor that human beings express and enhance the dignity of their lives." Yet he adds that the "worst discrimination which the poor suffer is the lack of spiritual care. ... They need God and we must not fail to offer them his friendship, his blessing, his word, the celebration of the sacraments and a journey of growth and maturity in the faith." • He calls for renewal and rethinking the way every person and every institution – from the pope and the Roman Curia down to the parish and its parishioners – live their faith and focus their energies. • The pope recognizes the church must be realistic about the challenges individuals and the world pose to belief today, but – as a Jesuit – he encourages an Ignatian reading of the situation, looking for the people, places and trends where God is present. The practice should lead to greater consolation, joy and courage in sharing the Gospel. • Pope Francis sees the Christian life as being based on knowing and experiencing God’s love, mercy and salvation offered to all through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Evangelization programs and catechesis must be designed to help people return to that basic knowledge and experience and help them understand that church teaching in light of God having revealing himself as loving and merciful. • He apologetically spends a long section of the document talking about the importance of homilies as the one opportunity each week most priests have to encourage Catholics to live the faith. He provides detailed suggestions on reading the biblical texts for the Mass, writing the homily and delivering it. • The pope recognizes that some church teachings and positions on modern issues are confusing to many people, especially outside the church. He affirms church teaching that women cannot be priests because Jesus chose only men as his apostles, but he also says women must be involved more in church decision making. He also insists that the defense of the life of the unborn flows from the conviction that every life is sacred, and is a position that will not change. • Pope Francis says that the heart of the Christian moral message is love for one another, which must motivate Christians to share the Gospel, help the poor and work for social justice. • The pope highlights Mary not only as a model of faith and fidelity, but as a strong woman and mother who shared many of the joys and sorrows facing people today and, therefore, understands the challenges they face. • He warns of "spiritual worldliness" which leads apparently good Catholics to be concerned almost exclusively with power or appearances or judging others rather than recognizing their own sin and reaching out to others with the same mercy God offers them. Pope Francis reiterates his earlier criticisms of "ideologies that defend the absolute autonomy of the marketplace and financial speculation," which he blames for the current financial crisis and attributes to an "idolatry of money." He emphasizes that the church’s concern for the vulnerable extends to "unborn children, the most defenseless and innocent among us," whose defense is "closely linked to the defense of each and every other human right." "A human being is always sacred and inviolable, in any situation and at every stage of development," the pope writes, in his strongest statement to date on the subject of abortion. "Once this conviction disappears, so do solid and lasting foundations for the defense of human rights, which would always be subject to the passing whims of the powers that be." The pope writes that evangelization entails peacemaking, among other ways through ecumenical and interreligious dialogue. He "humbly" calls on Muslim majority countries to grant religious freedom to Christians, and enjoins Catholics to "avoid hateful generalizations" based on "disconcerting episodes of violent fundamentalism," since "authentic Islam and the proper reading of the Quran are opposed to every form of violence." Despite his censures and warnings, the pope ends on a hopeful note true to his well-attested devotion to Mary, whom he invokes as the mother of evangelization and "wellspring of happiness for God’s little ones." The full text of the Apostolic Exhortation "Evangelii Gaudium" is available at http://www.vatican.va/phome_en.htm.
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