“The contemporary world is troubled and unsettled, irresponsible and indifferent”: that’s why initiatives of new evangelization, like the one that is taking place in Lisbon (5-13 November), are needed”, writes Benedict XVI in his message to the participants in the city mission in Lisbon, which is being held in the framework of the International Congress for the new evangelization involving (since 2003), in turn, five European cities (Vienna, Paris, Lisbon, Brussels and Budapest). The Pope recalls that the project “derives its origin from the desire to embark on new roads to proclaim, in a new way, the ancient message of the Christian revelation in present-day society”. Benedict XVI emphasises the importance of the “Christian roots” on which Europe is founded. He asks the old continent “not to renounce the genuine humanism of the Gospel of Christ”. The Patriarch of Lisbon, Cardinal Josè Policarpo, said in his inaugural address that “evangelising Lisbon means teaching and accepting with love those who arrive, and preparing all those who leave on mission so that they may instil hearts with the joy of life and the ideal of brotherhood, values sown for centuries in our Christian culture”.
