Anniversary
“All the documents, or at least the most important ones – I am speaking of the ‘Evangelii gaudium’, which has been a bit like the policy of his papacy, then also the ‘Amoris laetitia’ and even, maybe indirectly, the ‘Laudato sì’ –, are always a call to joy: the praise that comes from joy, from a cheerful soul”. This was said by the Vatican Secretary of State, card. Pietro Parolin, in an interview with “Vatican News” about the five years of Pope Francis’s papacy. “The key feature of his papacy is actually joy – he pointed out –, a joy that does not come, of course, from carelessness but from feeling loved by the Lord”. There’s another line that the cardinal said runs through Francis’s papacy: “Mercy, as a personal and total love that God feels for each one of His creatures, and on the other side the joy of telling the good news of the Gospel to other people”. The third line he mentioned is “evangelisation”, that “of the outgoing Church, which must bring the Gospel to all creatures”. The Secretary of State also points at another dimension that Francis rates highly, “the dimension of an outgoing Church”, “a moving Church”. “The pressing call that the Pope has made since the start” is ”to avoid resorting to the principle that ‘we have always done that’”. “Probably this urge, this dynamism the Pope has given and wants to give to the Church, may arouse different, clashing and sometimes even opposing opinions”. Lastly, a wish from card. Parolin to Pope Francis: “May the Lord give him life, health, strength and courage to keep leading the Church”.
