Congregation for the Doctrine of
the Faith
December 14, 2007
I. Introduction
1. Jesus Christ was sent by the Father to proclaim the Gospel, calling all
people to conversion and faith (cf Mk 1:14-15). After his resurrection, he
entrusted the continuation of his mission of evangelization to the Apostles (cf.
Mt 28:19-20; Mk 16:15; Lk24:4-7; Acts 1:3): "As the Father has sent me, so I send you" (Jn
20:21, cf. 17:18). By means of the Church, Christ wants to be
present in every historical epoch, every place on earth and every sector of
society, in order to reach every person, so that there may be one flock and one
shepherd (cf. Jn 10:16): "Go out into the whole world and preach the Gospel to
every creature. He who believes and is baptized will be saved, but he who does
not believe will be condemned" (Mk 16: 15-16).
The Apostles, therefore, "prompted by the Spirit, invited all to change their
lives, to be converted and to be baptized",1 because the "pilgrim
Church is necessary for salvation".2 It is the same Lord Jesus Christ
who, present in his Church, goes before the work of evangelizers, accompanies
it, follows it, and makes their labours bear fruit: what took place at the
origins of Christian history continues throughout its entire course.
At the beginning of the third millennium, the call which Peter and his brother
Andrew, as well as the other first disciples, heard from Jesus continues to
resound in the world: "put out into the deep and lower your nets for a catch" (Lk
5:4).3 And after the miracle of a huge catch of fish, the Lord
revealed to Peter that he would become "a fisher of men" (Lk 5:10).
2. The term evangelization has a very rich meaning4 in the broad
sense, it sums up the Church's entire mission: her whole life consists in
accomplishing the traditio Evangelii, the proclamation and handing on of
the Gospel, which is "the power of God for the salvation of everyone who
believes" (John 1:16) and which, in the final essence, is identified with Jesus
Christ himself (cf. 1 Cor 1:24). Understood in this way, evangelization is aimed
at all of humanity. In any case, to evangelize does not mean simply to teach a
doctrine, but to proclaim Jesus Christ by one's words and actions, that is, to
make oneself an instrument of his presence and action in the world.
"Every person has the right to hear the `Good News' of the God who reveals and
gives himself in Christ, so that each one can live out in its fullness his or
her proper calling".5 It's a right which the Lord himself confers on
every person, so that every man and woman is able truly to say with Saint Paul:
Jesus Christ "loved me and gave himself up for me" (Gal 2:20). This right
implies the corresponding duty to evangelize: "If I preach the Gospel, this is
no reason for me to boast; it is a duty
for me, Woe to me if I do not preach the Gospel!" (1 Cor 9:16; cf. Rom 10:14).
Thus, it is evident how every activity of the Church has an essential
evangelizing dimension and must never be separated from the commitment to help
all persons to meet Christ in faith, which is the primary objective of
evangelization: "Social issues and the Gospel are inseparable. When we bring
people only knowledge, ability, technical competence and tools, we bring them
too little".6
3. There is today, however, a growing confusion which leads many to leave the
missionary command of the Lord unheard and ineffective (cf. Mt 28:19). Often it
is maintained that any attempt to convince others on religious matters is a
limitation of their freedom. From this perspective, it would only be legitimate
to present one's own ideas and to invite people to act according to their
consciences, without aiming at their conversion to Christ and to the Catholic
faith. It is enough, so they say, to help people to become more human or more
faithful to their own religion; it is enough to build communities which strive
for justice, freedom, peace and solidarity. Furthermore, some maintain that
Christ should not be proclaimed to those who do not know him, nor should joining
the Church be promoted, since it would also be possible to be saved without
explicit knowledge of Christ and without formal incorporation in the Church.
In the face of these problems, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith
has judged it necessary to publish the present Note. This document, which
presupposes the entirety of Catholic doctrine on evangelization, as extensively
treated in the teaching of Paul VI and John Paul II, is intended to clarify
certain aspects of the relationship between the missionary command of the Lord
and respect for the conscience and religious freedom of all people. It is an
issue with important
anthropological, ecclesiological and ecumenical implications.
II Some anthropological implications
4. "This is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God and Jesus
Christ whom you have sent" (Jn 17:3). God has given human beings intellect and
will so that they might freely seek, know and love him. Therefore, human freedom
is both a resource and a challenge offered to man by God who has created him: an
offer directed to the human person's capacity to know and to love what is good
and true. Nothing puts in play human freedom like the search for the good and
the true, by inviting it to a kind of commitment which involves fundamental
aspects of life, This is particularly the case with salvific truth, which is not
only an object of thought, but also an event which encompasses the entire person
- intelligence, will, feelings, actions and future plans - when a person adheres
to Christ. In the search for the good and the true, the Holy Spirit is already
at work, opening the human heart and making it ready to welcome the truth of the
Gospel, as Thomas Aquinas stated in his celebrated phrase: omne verum a
quocumque dicatur a Spiritu Sancto est.7 It is important
therefore to appreciate this action of the Spirit, who creates an affinity for
the truth and draws the human heart towards it, by helping human knowledge to
mature both in wisdom and in trusting abandonment to what is true.8
Today, however, with ever-increasing frequency, questions are being raised about
the legitimacy of presenting to others - so that they might in turn accept it -
that which is held to be true for oneself. Often this is seen as an infringement
of other people's freedom. Such a vision of human freedom, separated from its
integral reference to truth, is one of the expressions "of that relativism
which, recognizing nothing as definitive, leaves as the ultimate criterion only
the self with its desires
and under the semblance of freedom, becomes a prison for each one'.9
In the various forms of agnosticism and relativism present in contemporary
thought, "a legitimate plurality of positions has yielded to an undifferentiated
pluralism, based upon the assumption that all positions are equally valid, which
is one of today's most widespread symptoms of the lack of confidence in truth.
Even certain conceptions of life coming from the East betray this lack of
confidence, denying truth its exclusive character and assuming that truth
reveals itself equally in different doctrines, even if they contradict one
another".10 If man denies his fundamental capacity for the truth, if
he becomes skeptical regarding his ability really to know what is true, he ends
up losing what in a unique way draws his intelligence and enthralls his heart.
5. In this connection, when it comes to the search for truth, whoever
trusts only in his own individual efforts and does not recognize the need for
help from others, is deceiving himself Human beings "from birth, therefore, are
immersed in traditions which give them not only a language and a cultural
formation but also a range of truths in which they believe almost
instinctively... Nonetheless, there are in the life of a human being many more
truths which are simply believed than truths which are
acquired by way of personal verification".11 The need to trust in the
knowledge handed on by one's culture or acquired by others, enriches a person
with truths that could not have been attained on one's own, as well as by the
interpersonal and social relationships which this process develops. Spiritual
individualism, on the other hand, isolates a person, hindering him from opening
in trust to others - so as both to receive and to bestow the abundant goods
which nourish his freedom and jeopardizes the right to manifest one's own
convictions and opinions in society.12
In particular, the truth which is capable of shedding light on the meaning of
one's life and giving it direction, is similarly attained through trusting
acceptance with regard to those persons who are able to guarantee the certainty
and authenticity of the truth itself: "There is no doubt that the capacity to
entrust oneself and one's life to another person and the decision to do so are
among the most significant and expressive human acts".13 Although it
happens on a deeper level, the acceptance
of revelation which takes place through faith also falls within the dynamics of
the search for truth: "The obedience of faith' (Rom 16:26 cf Rom 1:5;
2 Cor
10:5-6) must be given to God who reveals; by this obedience of faith man freely
commits his entire self to God, offering `the full submission of intellect and
will to God who reveals' and freely assenting to the revelation given by him".14
The Second Vatican Council, after having affirmed the right and the duty of
every person to seek the truth in matters of religion adds: "The search for
truth, however, must he carried out in a manner that is appropriate to the
dignity of the human person and his social nature, namely, by free enquiry with
the help of teaching or instruction, communication and dialogue. It is by these
means that people share with each other the truth they have discovered, or think
they have discovered, in such a way that they help one another in the search for
truth".15 In any case, the truth does not impose itself except by
the strength of the truth itself.16 Therefore, to lead a person's
intelligence and freedom in honesty to the encounter with Christ and his Gospel
is not an inappropriate encroachment, but rather a legitimate endeavour and a
service capable of making human relationships more fruitful.
6. Evangelization does not only entail the possibility of enrichment for
those who are evangelized; it is also an enrichment for the one who does the
evangelizing, as well as for the entire Church. For example, in the process of inculturation, "the universal Church herself is enriched with forms of
expression and values in the various sectors of Christian life. She comes to
know and to express better the mystery of Christ, all the while being motivated
to continual renewal".17 Indeed,
since the day of Pentecost, the Church has manifested the universality of her
mission, welcoming in Christ the countless riches of peoples from all times and
places in human history.18 Beyond its intrinsic anthropological value,
every encounter with another person or culture is capable of revealing
potentialities of the Gospel which hitherto may not have been fully explicit and
which will enrich the life of Christians and the Church. Thanks to this
dynamism, "tradition, which comes from the
Apostles, makes progress in the Church by the help of the Holy Spirit".19
It is indeed the Holy Spirit who, after having been operative in the incarnation
of Jesus Christ in the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary, animates the maternal
action of the Church in the evangelization of cultures. Although the Gospel is
independent from any culture, it is capable of infusing all cultures, while
never allowing itself to be subservient to them. 20 In this sense,
the Holy Spirit is also the principal agent of the inculturation of the Gospel,
presiding in a fruitful way at the dialogue between
the Word of God, revealed in Christ, and the deepest questions which arise among
the multitude of human beings and cultures, In this way, the Pentecost-event
continues in history, in the unity of one and the same faith, enriched by the
diversity of languages and cultures.
7. The communication of religiously significant events and truths in order that
they will be accepted by others is not only in profound harmony with the human
phenomena of dialogue, proclamation and education, it also corresponds to
another important anthropological fact: the desire, which is proper to the human
person, to have others share in one's own goods. The acceptance of the Good News
in faith is thus dynamically ordered to such a communication. The truth which
saves one's life inflames the heart of the one who has received it with a love
of neighbour that motivates him to pass on to others in freedom what he has
freely been given.
Although non-Christians can be saved through the grace which God bestows in
"ways known to him",21 the Church cannot fail to recognize that such
persons are lacking a tremendous benefit in this world: to know the true face of
God and the friendship of Jesus Christ, God-with-us. Indeed "there is nothing
more beautiful than to be surprised by the Gospel, by the encounter with Christ.
There is nothing more beautiful than to know him and to speak to others of our
friendship with him"22 The revelation of the fundamental truths23
about God, about the human person and the world, is a great good for every human
person, while living in darkness without the truths about ultimate questions is
an evil and is often at the root of suffering and slavery which can at times be
grievous. This is why Saint Paul does not hesitate to describe conversion to the
Christian faith as liberation "from the power of darkness" and entrance into
"the kingdom of his beloved Son in whom we have redemption and the forgiveness
of our sins" (Col 1:13-I 4), Therefore, fully belonging to Christ, who is the
Truth, and entering the Church do not lessen human freedom, but rather exalt it
and direct it towards its fulfillment, in a love that is freely given and which
overflows with care for the good of all people. It is an
inestimable benefit to live within the universal embrace of the friends of God
which flows from communion in the life-giving flesh of his Son, to receive from
him the certainty of forgiveness of sins and to live in the love that is born of
faith. The Church wants everyone to share in these goods so that they may
possess the fullness of truth and the fullness of the means of salvation, in
order "to enter into the freedom of the glory of the children of God" (Rom 8:21).
8. Evangelization also involves a sincere dialogue that seeks to understand the
reasons and feelings of others. Indeed, the heart of another person can only be
approached in freedom, in love and in dialogue, in such a manner that the word
which is spoken is not simply offered, but also truly witnessed in the hearts of
those to whom it is addressed. This requires taking into account the hopes,
sufferings and concrete situations of those with whom one is in dialogue.
Precisely in this way, people of good will open their hearts more freely and
share their spiritual and religious experiences in all sincerity. This
experience of sharing, a characteristic of true friendship, is a valuable
occasion for witnessing and for Christian proclamation.
As in any other field of human activity, so too in dialogue on religious
matters, sin can enter in. It may sometimes happen that such a dialogue is not
guided by its natural purpose, but gives way instead to deception, selfish
motives or arrogance, thus failing in respect for the dignity and religious
freedom of the partners in dialogue. For this reason, "the Church severely
prohibits forcing people to embrace the faith or leading or enticing them by
improper techniques; by the same token, she also strongly defends the right that
no one be deterred from the faith by deplorable ill treatment".24
The primary motive of evangelization is the love of Christ for the eternal
salvation of all, The sole desire of authentic evangelizers is to bestow freely
what they themselves have freely received: "From the very origins of the Church,
the disciples of Christ strove to convert men to faith in Christ the Lord; not,
however, through coercion or tactics unworthy of the Gospel, but above all by
the power of the word of God".25 The mission of the Apostles and its
continuation in the mission of the early Church remain the foundational model of
evangelization for all time: it is a mission that has often been marked by
martyrdom, as demonstrated by the history of the twentieth century. It is
precisely martyrdom that gives credibility to witnesses, who seek neither power
nor advantage, but instead lay down their lives for Christ. Before all the
world, they display an unarmed strength brimming with love for all people, which
is bestowed on those who follow Christ unto the total gift of their existence,
So it is that Christians, from the very dawn of Christianity up until our own
time have suffered persecution on account of the Gospel, as Jesus himself
foretold: "If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you" (Jn 15:20).
III. Some ecclesiological implications
9. Since the day of Pentecost, one who fully accepts the faith is incorporated
into the community of believers: "those who received his word [Peter's] were
baptized and that day about three thousand people were added to them" (Acts
2:41). Since the beginning, the Gospel, in the power of the Spirit, is
proclaimed to all people so that they might believe and become disciples of
Christ and members of his Church, In the writings of the Fathers of the Church,
there are constant exhortations to
fulfill the mission entrusted by Christ to his disciples.26
Generally, the term conversion is used in reference to bringing pagans into the
Church. However, conversion (metanoia), in its precisely Christian meaning,
signifies a change in thinking and in acting, as the expression of the new
life in Christ proclaimed by faith: a continuous reform of thought and deeds directed
at an ever more intense identification with Christ (cf Gal 2:20), to which the
baptized are called before all else, This is, in the
first place, the meaning of the call made by Jesus himself: "repent and believe
in the Gospel" (Mk 1:15; cf Mt 4:17).
The Christian spirit has always been animated by a passion to lead all humanity
to Christ in the Church, The incorporation of new members into the Church is not
the expansion of a power-group, but rather entrance into the network of
friendship with Christ which connects heaven and earth, different continents and
ages. It is entrance into the gift of communion with Christ, which is "new life"
enlivened by charity and the commitment to justice. The Church is the
instrument, "the seed and the beginning"27 of the Kingdom of God; she
is not a political utopia. She is already the presence of God in history and she
carries in herself the true future, the definitive future in which God will be
"all in all" (1 Cor 15:28); she is a necessary presence, because only God can
bring authentic peace and justice to the world, The Kingdom of God is not as
some maintain today - a generic reality above all religious experiences and
traditions, to which they tend as a universal and indistinct communion of all
those who seek God, but it is, before all else, a person with a name and a face:
Jesus of Nazareth, the image of the unseen God.28 Therefore, every
free movement of the human heart towards God and towards his kingdom cannot but
by its very nature lead to Christ and be oriented towards entrance into his
Church, the efficacious sign of that Kingdom. The Church, therefore, is the
bearer of the presence of God and thus the instrument of the true humanization
of man and the world. The growth of the Church in history, which results from
missionary activity, is at the service of the presence of God through his
Kingdom: one cannot in fact "detach the Kingdom from the Church".29
10. However, the Church's "missionary proclamation is endangered today by
relativistic theories which seek to justify religious pluralism, not only de
facto but also de iure (or in principle)".30 For a long
time, the reason for evangelization has not been clear to many among the
Catholic faithful.31 It is even stated that the claim to have
received the gift of the fullness of God's revelation masks an attitude of
intolerance and a danger to peace.
Those who make such claims are overlooking the fact that the fullness of the
gift of truth, which God makes by revealing himself to man, respects the freedom
which he himself created as an indelible mark of human nature: a freedom which
is not indifference, but which is rather directed towards truth. This kind of
respect is a requirement of the Catholic faith itself and of the love of Christ;
it is a constitutive element of evangelization and, therefore, a good which is
to be promoted inseparably with the commitment to making the fullness of
salvation, which God offers to the human race in the Church, known and freely
embraced.
Respect for religious freedom32 and its promotion "must not in
any way make us indifferent towards truth and goodness. Indeed, love impels the
followers of Christ to proclaim to all the truth which saves" 33 Such
love is the sign of the authentic presence of the Holy Spirit who, as the
principal agent of evangelization,34 never ceases to move people's
hearts when they hear the Gospel, by opening them to receive it. It is a love
which lives in the heart of the Church and from there, as burning charity,
radiates out to the ends of the earth, as far as the heart of every human being.
The entire heart of man awaits the encounter with Jesus Christ.
Thus one understands the urgency of Christ's invitation to evangelization and
why it is that the mission entrusted by the Lord to the Apostles involves all
the baptized. The words of Jesus "go therefore and teach all nations, baptizing
them in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to
observe all that I have commanded you" (Mt 28:19-20), are directed to everyone
in the Church, each according to his own vocation. At the present time, with so
many people in the world living in different types of desert, above all, in the
"desert of God's darkness, the emptiness of souls no longer aware of their
dignity or the goal of human life",35 Pope Benedict XVI has recalled
to the world that "the Church as a whole and all her Pastors, like Christ, must
set out to lead people out of the desert,
towards the place of life, towards friendship with the Son of God, towards the
One who gives us life, and life in abundance".36 This apostolic
commitment is an inalienable right and duty, an expression of religious liberty,
with its corresponding ethical-social and ethical-political dimensions.37
It is a right which in some parts of the world, unfortunately, has not yet
been recognized and which in others is not respected in practice. 38
11. He who announces the Gospel participates in the charity of Christ, who loved
us and gave himself up for us (cf Eph 5:2); he is his ambassador and he pleads
in the name of Christ: let yourselves to be reconciled with God (cf. 2 Cor
5:20). It is a charity which is an expression of the gratitude that flows from
the heart when it opens to the love given in Jesus Christ, that Love which, as
Dante wrote, is displayed throughout the universe.39 This explains
the ardour, the confidence, and the freedom of speech (parrhesia) evident
in the preaching of the Apostles (cf. Acts 4:31; 9:27-28; 26:26, etc.) and which
Agrippa experienced when he heard Paul speaking: "You will soon persuade me to
become a Christian!" (Acts 26:28).
Evangelization is not only accomplished through public preaching of the Gospel
nor solely through works of public relevance, but also by means of personal
witness which is always very effective in spreading the Gospel. Indeed, "side by
side with the collective proclamation of the Gospel, the other form of handing
it on, from person to person, remains valid and important... It must not happen
that the pressing need to proclaim the Good News to the multitudes should cause
us to forget
this form of proclamation whereby an individual's personal conscience is reached
and touched by an entirely unique word that he receives from someone else".40
In any case, it needs to be remembered that, in transmitting the Gospel, word
and witness of life go together.41 Above all, the witness of holiness
is necessary, if the light of truth is to reach all human beings. if the word is
contradicted by behaviour, its acceptance will be difficult. However, even
witness by itself is not enough "because even the finest witness will prove
ineffective in the long run, if it is not explained, justified - what Peter
called `giving a reason for the hope that is in you' (1 Pet 3:15) - and made
explicit by a clear and unequivocal proclamation of the Lord Jesus".42
IV. Some ecumenical implications
12. From its beginnings, the ecumenical movement has been closely connected with
evangelization. Unity, in fact, is the seal of the credibility of missionary
activity and so the Second Vatican Council noted with regret that the scandal of
division "damages the most sacred cause of preaching".43 Jesus
himself, on the night before his death, prayed "that they all may be one, so
that the world may believe" (Jn 17:21).
The mission of the Church is universal and is not restricted to specific regions
of the earth. Evangelization, however, is undertaken differently according to
the different situations in which it occurs. In its precise sense,
evangelization is the missio ad gentes directed to those who do not know
Christ. In a wider sense, it is used to describe ordinary pastoral work, while
the phrase "new evangelization" designates pastoral outreach to those who no
longer practice the Christian faith,44 In
addition, there is evangelization in countries where non-Catholic Christians
live, including those with an ancient Christian Tradition and culture. In this
context, what is required is both true respect for the tradition and spiritual
riches of such countries as well as a sincere spirit of cooperation. Catholics,
"avoiding every form of indifferentism or confusion, as well as senseless
rivalry, through a common profession of faith in God and in Jesus Christ before
all peoples - insofar as this is possible - may collaborate with their separated
brethren in social, cultural, technical and religious matters in accordance with
the Decree on Ecumenism".45
Different dimensions of the work of ecumenism can be distinguished: above all,
there is listening, as a fundamental condition for any dialogue, then, theological discussion, in which, by seeking to understand the beliefs,
traditions and convictions of others, agreement can be found, at times hidden
under disagreement. Inseparably united with this is another essential dimension
of the ecumenical commitment: witness and proclamation of elements which are not
particular traditions or
theological subtleties, but which belong rather to the Tradition of the faith
itself.
Ecumenism does not have only an institutional dimension aimed at "making the
partial communion existing between Christians grow towards full communion in
truth and charity".46 It is also the task of every member of the
faithful, above all by means of prayer, penance, study and cooperation.
Everywhere and always, each Catholic has the right and the duty to give the
witness and the full proclamation of his faith. With non-Catholic Christians,
Catholics must enter into a respectful
dialogue of charity and truth, a dialogue which is not only an exchange of
ideas, but also of gifts,47 in order that the fullness of the means
of salvation can be offered to one's partners in dialogue.48 In this
way. they are led to an ever deeper conversion to Christ.
In this connection, it needs also to be recalled that if a non-Catholic
Christian, for reasons of conscience and having been convinced of Catholic
truth, asks to enter into the full communion of the Catholic Church, this is to
be respected as the work of the Holy Spirit and as an expression of freedom of
conscience and of religion. In such a case, it would not be a question of
proselytism in the negative sense that has been attributed to this term.48
As explicitly recognized in the Decree on Ecumenism of the Second Vatican
Council, "it is evident that the wok of preparing and reconciling those
individuals who desire full Catholic communion is of its nature distinct from
ecumenical action, but there is no opposition between the two, since both
proceed from the marvelous ways of God" 50 Therefore, the
work of ecumenism does not remove the right or take away the responsibility of
proclaiming in fullness the Catholic faith to other Christians, who freely wish
to receive it.
This perspective naturally requires the avoidance of any undue Pressure: "in
spreading religious faith and introducing religious practices, everyone should
refrain at all times from any kind of action which might seem to suggest
coercion or dishonest or improper persuasion, especially when dealing with poor
or uneducated people".51 The witness to the truth does not seek to
impose anything by force, neither by coercive action nor by tactics incompatible
with the Gospel. By definition, the exercise of charity is free. 52
Love and witnessing to the truth are aimed above all at convincing others
through the power of the word of God (Cf 1 Cor 2:3-5; 1 Thess 2:3-5)53
The Christian mission resides in the power of the Holy Spirit and in the truth
itself which is proclaimed.
V. Conclusion
13. The Church's commitment to evangelization can never be lacking, since
according to his own promise, the presence of the Lord Jesus in the power of the
Holy Spirit will never be absent from her: "I am with you always, even until the
end of the world" (Mt 28:20). The relativism and irenicism prevalent today in
the area of religion are not valid reasons for failing to respond to the
difficult, but awe-inspiring commitment which belongs to the nature of the
Church herself and is indeed the
Church's "primary task"54 "Caritas Christi urget nos - the
love of Christ impels us" (2 Cor 5:14): the lives of innumerable Catholics bear
witness to this truth. Throughout the entire history of the Church, people
motivated by the love of Jesus have undertaken initiatives and works of every
kind in order to proclaim the Gospel to the entire world and in all sectors of
society, as a perennial reminder and invitation to every Christian generation to
fulfill with generosity the mandate of Christ. Therefore, as Pope Benedict XVI
recalls, "the proclamation of and witness to the Gospel are the first service
that Christians can render to every person and to the entire human race, called
as they are to communicate to all God's love, which was flatly manifested in
Jesus Christ, the one Redeemer of the world".55 The
love which comes from God unites us to him and "makes us a `we' which transcends
our divisions and makes us one, until in the end God is `all in all' (1 Cor
15:28)"56
The Sovereign Pontiff Benedict XVI in the Audience granted to the undersigned
Cardinal Prefect on 6 October 2007, approved the present Doctrinal Note, adopted
in the Ordinary Session of this Congregation, and ordered its publication.
Rome, from the Offices of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, 3
December 2007, Memorial of Saint Francis Xavier, Patron of the Missions
+ William Cardinal Levada
Prefect
+ Angelo Amato, SDB
Titular Archbishop of Sila
Secretary
1. JOHN PAUL. II, Encyclical Letter Redemptoris rnissio (7
December 1990), 47: JIAS 83(2991), 293.
2. SECOND VATICAN COUNCIL, Dogmatic Constitution Lumen Gentium, 14; cf. Decree
Ad gentes, 7; Decree Un/tans
redintegratio, 3. This teaching does not contradict the universal salvific will
of God, who `desires that all men be saved and
come to a knowledge of the truth' (I Ton 2:4); therefore, "it is necessary to
keep these two truths together, namely, the real
possibility of salvation in Christ for all mankind and the necessity of the
Church for salvation" (JOHN PAUL II, Encyclical
Letter Redemptoris missio, 9: AAS 83 [1991], 258).
3. Cf JOHN PAUL II Apostolic Letter Novo Millennio ineunte (6 January 2001), 1:
AAS 93(2001), 266.
4. Cf PAUL. VI, Apostolic Exhortation Evangel/i cant/with (8 December 1975), 24.
AAS 69 (1976), 22
5. JOHN PAUL. II, Encyclical Letter Redemptoris missio, 46: iL45 83 (1991), 293;
cf PAUL VI, Apostolic Exhortation
Evangelli nuntiandi, 53 and 80: ~4.45' 69 (1976), 41-42, 73-74,
6. BENEDICT XVI, Homily at the Mass celebrated at the outdoor site of the Neue
Messe in Munich (10 September
2006): 448 98(2006), 710
7. SAINT THOMAS AQUINAS, Summa Theologiae, 1-fl, q 109, al, ad I: "any truth no
matter by whom it is spoken,
is from the Holy Spirit".
8 Cf JOHN PAUL II, Encyclical Letter Fides et ratio (14 September 1998), 44:
il4S 91(1999), 40.
9. BENEDICT XVI, Address to the Participants in the Ecclesial Diocesan
Convention of Rome "Family and
Christian community formation of the person and transmission of the faith" (6
June 2005): AAS 97(2005), 816
10. JOHN PAUL II, Encyclical Letter Fides et ratio: AAS 91(1999), 9~10.
11. ibidem, 31: AAS 91 (1999), 29, of SECOND VATICAN COUNCIL, Pastoral
Constitution Gaudium et spes 12.
12. This right was recognized and affirmed also by the Universal Declaration of
Human Rights of 1948 (art 18-19).
13. JOHNPAUL II, Encyclical Letter Fides et raio,, 33. AAS9I (1999), 31.
14. SECOND VATICAN COUNCIL, Dogmatic Constitution Dei Verbum, 5
15 SECOND VATICAN COUNCIL, Declaration Dignitatis humanae, 3.
16. Ibidem, 1
17. JOHN PAUL II, Encyclical Letter Redemptoris missio, 52: ,L4S 83 (1991), 300.
18. Cf. JOHN PAUL II Encyclical Letter Slavorum Apostoli (2 June 1985), 18: AAS
77(1985), 800,
19. SECOND VATICAN COUNCIL, Dogmatic Constitution Dei Verbum, 8.
20. Cf PAUL Vi, Apostolic Exhortation Evangelli nuntiandi, 19-20. AilS 69
(1976), 18.19.
21. SECOND VATICAN COUNCIL, Decree Ad gentes, 7; ci Dogmatic Constitution Lumen
gentium, 16; Pastoral
Constitution Gaudium et Spes, 22
22 BENEDICT XVI, Homily at the Mass for the Inauguration of the Pontificate (24
April 2005). AAS 97(2005), 71 S
23. ct: FIRST VATICAN COUNCIL~ Dogmatic Constitution Dei Filius, 2: "It is
indeed thanks to this divine revelation,
that those matters concerning God, which are not of themselves beyond the scope
of human reason, can, even in the present
condition of the human race, be known by everyone without difficulty, with firm
certitude and with no admixture of error
(cf SAINT THOMAS AQUINAS, Summa Theologiae, I, q..l, a I)" (DII 3005)
24. SECOND VATICAN COUNCIL, Decree Ad gentes, 13.
25. SECOND VATICAN COUNCIL, Declaration Dignitatis humanae, 11
26 Cf.. tot example, CI.EMENT OF ALEXANDRIA, Protrepticus (Exhortation to the
Greeks), IX, 87, 3-4 (Sources
Chrétiennes 2 154-155); SAIN1 AUGUSTINE, Sermo 141) [-152 Al,) (Nuova Bibliotca
Agostiniana, XXXV!), 269-271)
27. SECOND VATICAN COUNCIL, Dogmatic Constitution Lumen gentium. 5.
28. Cf JOHN PAUL II, Encyclical Letter Redemptoris missio, IS: 14A8 83 (1991),
265-266: "If the kingdom is
separated from Jesus, it is no longer the kingdom of God which he revealed The
result is a distortion of the meaning of the
kingdom, which runs the risk of being transformed into a purely human or
ideological tool, and a distortion of the identity
of Christ, who no longer appeals as the Lord to whom everything must one day be
subjected (ci I Go;- 15:27)"
29. JOHN PAUL II, Encyclical Letter Redemptoris missio, 18: AAS 83 (1991), 266-
On the relationship between
Christ and the Kingdom, cf. also CONGREGATION FOR THE DOCTRINE OF THE. FAITH,
Declaration Dominus Iesus (6 August
2000), 18-19. ,t4S 92(2000), 759-761
30. CONGREGATION FOR THE DOCTRINE OF THE FAITH, Declaration Dominus Iesus, 4.
AAS 92(2000), 744
31. Cf. PAUL VI, Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii nuntiandi, 80: AAS 69 (1976),
73. "Besides, it is added, why
proclaim the Gospel when the whole world is saved by uprightness of heart? We
know likewise that the world and history
are filled with "seeds of the Word"; is it not therefore an illusion to claim to
bring tile Gospel where it already exists in the
seeds that the Lord Himself has sown?"
32 Cf BENEDICT XVI, Address to the Roman Curia offering Christmas Greetings (22
December 2005). AAS 98
(2006), 50. ". if religious freedom were to be considered an expression of the
human inability to discover the truth and thus
become a canonization of relativism, then this social and historical necessity
is raised inappropriately to the metaphysical
level and thus stripped of its true meaning Consequently, it cannot be accepted
by those who believe that the human person
is capable of knowing the truth about God and, on the basis of the inner dignity
of the truth, is bound to this knowledge. It
is quite different, on the other hand, to perceive religious freedom as a need
that derives from human coexistence, or indeed,
as an intrinsic consequence of the truth that cannot be externally imposed but
that the person must adopt only through the
process of conviction"
33 SECOND VATICAN COUNCIL, Pastoral Constitution Gaudium et spes, 28; cf PAUL
VI. Apostolic Exhortation
Evangeii nuntiandi, 24: AAS 69(1976), 21-22
34. Cf JOHN PAUL II, Encyclical Letter Redemptoris missio, 21-30: A,45'
83(1991)268-276.
35. BENEDICT XVI, Homily at the Mass for the Inauguration of the Pontificate (24
April 2005): AAS 97(2005), 710
36 Ibidem,
37.Cf SECOND VATICAN COUNCIL, Declaration Dignitatis humanae, 6
38. Indeed, where the right to religious freedom is recognized, the right to
share one's own convictions with others
in full respect for their consciences is usually recognized as well; this
sharing is aimed at having others enter one's own
religious community and is an established right in numerous legal systems, with
a well-developed jurisprudence.
39. Cf DANTE ALIGHIIERI, La Divine Commedia Pared/so, 33.87: che per
l'universio si. squaderna
40. PAUL. VI, Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii. nuntiandi, 46: AAS 69(1976), 36.
41." Cf SECOND VATICAN COUNCIL Dogmatic Constitution Lumen gent/urn, 35.
42. PAUL VI, Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii nuntiandi, 22. AIlS 69(1976), 20.
43..SECOND VATICAN COUNCIL, Decree Unitatis redintegratio. 1. cf JOHN PAUL II,
Encyclical Letter Redemptoris
mission. .1AS 83 (1Q91), 249, 297
44. Cf JOHN PAUL II, Encyclical Letter Redemptoris missio, 34. AAS 83 (1991),
279-280.
45. SECOND VATICAN COUNCIL, Decree Ad gentes, I5.
46 JOHN PAUL II, Encyclical Letter Ut unum sint (25 May 1995), 14. AAS 87(1995),
929.
47. Cf ibidem, 28. AAS 87(1995), 939-
48. Cf SECOND VATICAN COUNCIL, Decree Unitatis redintegratio, 3 and 5
49. The term proselytism originated in the context of Judaism, in which the term
proselyte referred to someone who,
Coming from the gentiles, had passed into the Chosen People So too, in the
Christian context, the term proselytism was
often used as a synonym for missionary activity. More recently, however, the
term has taken on a negative connotation, to
mean the promotion of a religion by using means, and for motives, contrary to
the spirit of the Gospel, that is, which do not
safeguard the freedom and dignity of the human person. It is in this sense that
the term proselytism is understood in the
context of the ecumenical movement cf. The Joint Working Group between the
Catholic Church and the World Council of
Churches, "The Challenge of Proselytism and the Calling to Common Witness"
(1995).
50. SECOND VATICAN COUNCIL, Decree Unitatiss redintegratio, 4.
51 SECOND VATICAN COUNCIL, Declaration Dignitalis humanae, 4
52.Cf BENEDICT XVI, Encyclical Letter Deus caritas es (25 December 2005), 31 C:
AAS 98 (2006), 245.
53. Cf, SECOND VATICAN COUNCIL., Declaration Dignitatis humanae, 11.
54. BENEDICT XVI, Homily during the visit to the Basilica of Saint Paul outside
the Walls (25 April 2005): 4~1597
(2005), 745.
55. BENEDICT XVI, Address io the participants in the International Conference on
the 40th anniversary of
the conciliar Decree Ad Gentes "(II] March 2006): AAS 98(2006), 334
56. BENEDICT XVI. Encyclical Letter Dees caritas es, 18- AAS 98 2006), 232
