apostolic letter ubicumque et semper

Apostolic Letter in the form of Motu ProprioUBICUMQUE ET SEMPER(‘Everywhere and Always’)

Background• Last June 2010, Pope Benedict XVI created

the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of the New Evangelization.

• He named Archbishop Rino Fisichella as the first President of this Pontifical Council.

• By 21st September 2010, Feast of Saint Matthew, he had issued the current Apostolic Letter by way of Motu Proprio, establishing formally said Pontifical Council.

CONTENTS of this presentation:

•Definition of terms•Motivations (urgent

issues)• ‘New Evangelization’: our

mission•Objectives of the Council

(Article 3)

Pontifical Councils……form part of the structure of the Roman

Curia [the body that assists the Pope in carrying out his functions]. The other organs or charges of the Roman Curia are:

I. The Secretariat of StateII. The CongregationsIII. The TribunalsIV. The Pontifical Councils:See: http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_councils

Apostolic Letters…… are documents issued by the Pope or in his name, e.g. bulls and briefs.

See: newadvent.org

Motivations (urgency)• John Paul II made this urgent task a

central point of his far-reaching Magisterial teaching, referring to it as the “new evangelization,” which he systematically explored in depth on numerous occasions—a task that still bears upon the Church today, particularly in regions Christianized long ago.

Motivations (urgency)• Post-Synodal Apostolic

Exhortation Christifideles Laici: “Whole countries and nations where religion and the Christian life were formerly flourishing and capable of fostering a viable and working community of faith, are now put to a hard test, and in some cases, are even undergoing a radical transformation, as a result of a constant spreading of an indifference to religion, of secularism and atheism. …”

Motivations (urgency)• “…in other regions or nations many

vital traditions of piety and popular forms of Christian religion are still conserved; but today this moral and spiritual patrimony runs the risk of being dispersed under the impact of a multiplicity of processes, including secularization and the spread of sects.”

“New Evangelization”

• ‘Evangelization’ refers to the effort to proclaim the Gospel to all peoples; the ‘new evangelization’, in John Paul II thought, is a response to new cultural realities and expresses a Pauline emphasis on inner conversion to Christ as a basis for outreach to others and to the wider culture.

The new Pontifical Council’s objectives:

1.To deepen the theological and pastoral meaning of the new evangelization.

2.To promote and foster in close collaboration with Bishops’ conferences, teaching of the Magisterium relative to the new evangelization.

The new Pontifical Council’s objectives:

3. To make known initiatives already under way in local churches and promote new initiatives, involving also resources of religious institutes and groups of the faithful and new lay communities;

The new Pontifical Council’s objectives:

The new Pontifical Council’s objectives:

4. To study and foster the use of modern means of communication as instruments for the new evangelization.

5. To promote the use of the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

The new Pontifical Council’s objectives:

• The Council pursues its own ends both by encouraging reflection on topics of the new evangelization, and by identifying and promoting suitable ways and means to accomplish it.

Article 1:

Article 2:The action of the Council is at the service of the particular Churches, especially in those territories of Christian tradition where the phenomenon of secularization is more obviously apparent.

Article 3:

Tasks or objectives of the new Council (as

above).

Article 4:The Council is directed by an

Archbishop President, assisted by a Secretary, by an Under-Secretary and by an appropriate number of Officials, in accordance with the

norms established by the Apostolic Constitution Pastor Bonus and by

the General Regulations of the Roman Curia.

• Given at Castel Gandolfo on the 21st day of September 2010, the Feast of Saint Matthew, Apostle and Evangelist…

Click here:http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/

apost_letters/documents/hf_ben-xvi_apl_20100921_ubicumque-et-semper_en.html