EVANGELII NUNTIANDI
APOSTOLIC EXHORTATION OF HIS HOLINESS
POPE PAUL VI
TO THE EPISCOPATE, TO THE CLERGY AND TO ALL THE FAITHFUL
OF THE ENTIRE WORLD
December 8, 1975
"Venerable brothers and dear sons and daughters:
health and the apostolic blessing.
1. There is no doubt that the effort to proclaim the Gospel to the people of today, who are buoyed up by hope but at the same time often oppressed by fear and distress, is a service rendered to the Christian community and also to the whole of humanity.
For this reason the duty of confirming the brethren - a duty which with the office of being the Successor of Peter we have received from the Lord, and which is for us a "daily preoccupation," a program of life and action, and a fundamental commitment of our Pontificate - seems to us all the more noble and necessary when it is a matter of encouraging our brethren in their mission as evangelizers, in order that, in this time of uncertainty and confusion, they may accomplish this task with ever increasing love, zeal and joy.
2. This is precisely what we wish to do here, at the end of this Holy Year during which the Church, "striving to proclaim the Gospel to all people," has had the single aim of fulfilling her duty of being the messenger of the Good News of Jesus Christ - the Good News proclaimed through two fundamental commands: "Put on the new self" and "Be reconciled to God."
We wish to do so on this tenth anniversary of the closing of the Second Vatican Council, the objectives of which are definitively summed up in this single one: to make the Church of the twentieth century ever better fitted for proclaiming the Gospel to the people of the twentieth century."
Flame of faith, lantern of hope
Inspired by Evangelii Nuntiandi
Pope Paul the Sixth, with vision clear,
Wrote words the Church must ever hear;
Evangelii Nuntiandi was the name,
Of exhortation to spread the gospel flame.
For twentieth-century hearts he wrote,
A message borne on faith's own boat.
Yet in this age, so tossed and tried,
We need its truth to be our guide.
Twenty-first century calls anew,
To spread the gospel ever true;
To strengthen every heart and soul,
With Christ's mission as our highest goal.
Let us be steadfast, undeterred,
Devoted servant of the Word;
With faithful hearts, let us proclaim
The saving Power of Jesus' Name.
May we be faithful to message given,
The living Word that leads to Heaven;
Preach it whole, pure and true
To all entrusted to our view.
Let not gospel truth be dimmed or shorn,
But let its light shine every morn;
For we are servants, called to share
The gospel's hope with loving care.
May Christ's own gospel burn within,
A flame of faith that conquers sin;
And through our lives its radiance glow,
Like lanterns lighting all below.
Beacons of hope, of truth, of light,
To guide the lost through darkest night;
May all we meet through us discern
The love of Christ for Whom we yearn.
In the footsteps of sainted Pope,
May we walk the faith's steep slope;
As we proclaim the Kingdom, far and wide
With Christ our Truth, Hope, and Guide.
'Til all the world of Saviour learns,
And for holiness in His Service yearns;
May we with courage, love and grace
Bring Christ's good news to every place.
With thanks to vatican.va
Image courtesy of ChatGPT with CN Whittle
