The
document is about one hundred and thirty pages long and might take a few hours
to read. Obviously it is not meant to be read all at once nor should it be
rushed. It merits much reflection. Pope Francis says that 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 says that ‘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.’ It is not
surprising that Pope Francis, who is inspired by the poverty of Jesus and his
concern for the poor, should call for a Church which is poor
and for the poor’. The poor, he tells
us, ‘have much to teach us. 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’. He stresses the importance of efforts to
‘eliminate the structural causes of poverty and to promote the integral
development of the poor.’ He writes that
‘this means education, access to health care and above all employment.’ He tells us 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 emphasises that the Church’s concern for
the vulnerable extends to ‘unborn children, the most defenceless and innocent
among us’ whose defence is ‘closely linked to the defence of each and every
other human right’. He stresses that ‘a
human being is always sacred and inviolable, in any situation and at every
stage of development. Once this
conviction disappears, so do solid and lasting foundations for the defence of
human rights which would always be subject to the passing whims of the powers
that be’.
Pope
Francis acknowledges the failures of the Church to support women who are
experiencing difficulties. ‘We have done
little to adequately accompany women in very difficult situations, where
abortion appears as a quick solution to their profound anguish, especially when
the life developing within them is the result of rape or a situation of extreme
poverty; who can remain unmoved before such painful situations’.
The
Pope says that evangelisation entails peacemaking and there must be ecumenical
and inter-religious dialogue. He calls
on countries that have a Muslim majority to grant religious freedom to
Christians. He asks Catholics to ‘avoid
hateful generalisations based on disconcerting episodes of violent
fundamentalism.’ He says that ‘authentic
Islam and the proper reading of the Quran are opposed to every form of violence’.
Surprisingly,
perhaps, he devotes several pages of the Joy of the Gospel to the subject of
the Sunday Mass homily. He feels that
homilies do not promote Gospel joy sufficiently. He says that the faithful and ‘their ordained
ministers suffer because of homilies, the laity from having to listen to them
and the clergy having to preach them.’
He stresses that homilies should be prepared by a careful study of the
Scriptures and a respect for brevity. He
says that those who proclaim the gospel message must never look like someone
who has just come back from a funeral.
He
reminds us that the Eucharist ‘is not a prize for the perfect but a powerful
medicine and nourishment for the weak’.
At the beginning of his message he says that ‘nowadays, documents do not
arouse the same interest as in the past and ......are quickly forgotten’. I think it would be a shame if this Apostolic
Exhortation should meet this fate.
Copies on sale in the repository at less than £5.00!
