New evangelisation begins with heart says Pope

June 14, 2011

“Faith is not conserved by its own merits in the world, it is not automatically transmitted to the human heart, but must always be announced. To be effective the proclamation of faith must begin with a heart that believes, hopes, loves, a heart that loves Christ and believes in the power of the Holy Spirit!”

This was Pope Benedict XVI’s message to the bishops, clergy religious and laity of his diocese Monday evening, gathered together in the basilica of St John Lateran to open the annual convention of the Diocese of Rome.

The Holy Father called priests, parents and catechists to launch a new evangelisation, to transmit a living faith to the future generation of Romans and create a community of believers in the eternal city where the Gospel is not only preached but put into practice.

Drawing from the Acts of the Apostle, the Pope began by noting that Peter’s proclamation of the Good News was not confined to a simple listing of facts, but that the people of Jerusalem on hearing his words were – through the grace of God – ‘cut to the heart’ and understood that Christ’s resurrection was and is capable of illuminating human existence. From this event “a new understanding of mankind’s dignity and his eternal destiny, of the relationship between man and woman, of the ultimate meaning of suffering of commitment to building society, was born”. The response of faith is born, he said , when mankind discovers, through the grace of God, that believing means finding true life, “full life”. the rest