Church in need of ‘new language’ to reach out to youth – Vatican official

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THE VATICAN’S point person for the “new evangelization” says the Church must find new language to reach out to the youth in its bid to revitalize the Christian message and ensure the Church’s future.

Archbishop Salvatore Rino Fisichella, president of the Vatican’s Pontifical Council for the Promotion of the New Evangelization, was among two Vatican officials to grace the second day of the 4th Philippine Conference on the New Evangelization (PCNE) on Saturdayin UST.

Fisichella stressed the importance of prayer and charity in the Church’s evangelical mission.

“Everything is to be shared so that nobody will be left suffering. Those who do not give have no life within them. Without love which is a complete sharing, there is no true life,” he said.

In a news conference, Fisichella highlighted the mission of the youth as “the future of the Church.”

“The Church has a particular responsibility for the youth. We need to make our youth responsible for the order and the new evangelization,” he told reporters.

The Church, Fisichella said, needs to find a new language to reach out to and evangelize the youth.

“The Gospel remains the same, it doesn’t change; but the way with which we communicate is important,” Fisichella said.

Social media plays an important mission in the new evangelization, he said. But he warned against the pitfalls that come with the irresponsible use of the Internet.

“The capacity of communication is the possibility of formation; however, using this new culture [brings forth] a new question: the
truth and how we read with a critical mind what we receive.”

 

Prayer, Mary’s guidance needed

Archbishop Bernardito Auza, permanent observer of the Holy See to the United Nations, said the presence of the Blessed Mother is important to “pump up our enthusiasm” in proclaiming the Gospel.

“The most important thing for us is to recognize that Mama Mary is present here among us especially as we try to enrich our knowledge and pump up our enthusiasm to be new evangelizers so that the proclamation of the Gospel will be all the more vibrant,” Auza said at the UST Quadricentennial Pavilion.

Speaking to over 6,000 delegates, he called on pilgrims to reflect on the message of Our Lady of Fatima who called for conversion and prayers for peace.

“When we examine the message that the lady transmitted to the three children, we can say that Mary essentially came to us as ambassador of peace,” he said.

The Filipino Vatican diplomat said peace begins from within a person, as he called on delegates to imitate Mary’s example of obedience, faith and love.

“If the heart has no peace, it cannot be a peacemaker, a peacebuilder and a peacekeeper. The person then must be transformed from the inside so that peace could be realized not only in the inside but also on the outside,” he said.

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