On the occasion of the tenth anniversary of the publication of the Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium, the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development held a symposium on November 24 to reflect on its impact within the pontificate of Pope Francis, on its meaning for the Church and for the world at large.

The Evangelii Gaudium is the first document of the Magisterium of Pope Francis. It was published on November 24, 2013, the Solemnity of Christ the King, and is considered by many to be a "programmatic" Apostolic Exhortation in which the Holy Father placed at the center of ecclesial pastoral care "the proclamation of the Gospel in today's world."

In order to proclaim the Gospel with joy, Pope Francis exhorts the Church to a "missionary transformation", deepens the "social dimension of Evangelization", explaining some of the community and social implications of the kerygma, social inclusion of the poor, the search for common good and social peace, and social dialogue as a contribution to peace.

Among the guests of the Roman Curia at this moment of reflection were Sr Nathalie Becquart of the General Secretariat of the Synod and Sr Helen Alford of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences.

Message from Pope Francis

In a message addressed to the participants of this Symposium organized by the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, Pope Francis thanked the realization of this initiative and recalled that when ten years ago he wrote the Evangelii Gaudium he invited Christians "to a new stage in the proclamation of the Gospel" in which he proposed to "recover the missionary joy of the first Christians, full of courage, tireless in the proclamation and capable of great Active resistance."

"The proclamation of the Gospel in today's world continues to require from us a counter-cultural prophetic resistance to pagan hedonistic individualism," the Holy Father wrote in the Apostolic Exhortation.

In addition, the Pope called for "to have the same sentiments of Jesus Christ" because "our evangelizing mission and our Christian life cannot ignore the poor".

To this end, the Holy Father suggested creating "new social structures" that are founded on a new mentality to "renounce the absolute autonomy of markets and financial speculation and attack the structural causes of inequity."

"If we do not achieve this change of mentality and structures, we are condemned to see the climate, health and migratory crises deepen, and particularly violence and wars, putting at risk the whole human family, poor and non-poor, integrated and excluded, because we are all in the same boat and we are called to row together," Francis said.

Finally, the Pope encouraged, ten years after the publication of Evangelii Gaudium, to reaffirm that "only if we listen to the often-silenced cry of the earth and of the poor can we fulfill our evangelizing mission, live the life that Jesus proposes to us and contribute to resolving the grave problems of humanity". 

Dialogue among the participants

The program of the symposium began with the reading Pope Francis' message in Spanish and an introductory talk by Cardinal Michael Czerny. 

This was followed by Argentinean Juan Grabois, who shared how he first met and got to know Jorge Bergoglio. A number of participants took part in the two-hours of dialogue including Sr Nathalie Becquart, Sr Helen Alford, Fr James Hanvey, Giuseppe De Marzo and Filipe Domingues.