Pope Francis warned that those who take refuge “in an idea, in an ideology, be it right, left, or center, are making the Gospel a political party, an ideology, a club of people” in his general audience on 22 February.
The Holy Father continued his catechetical cycle on evangelization and spoke today about the protagonist of the announcement: the Holy Spirit.
Before the faithful gathered in the Paul VI Hall of the Vatican, the Pontiff explained that “baptizing means immersing”, and something that also “expresses a vital action: immersing one’s life in the Father, in the Son, in the Holy Spirit”.
For the Holy Father, this also means “experiencing every day the joy of the presence of God who is close to us as Father, as Brother, as Spirit who acts in us, in our own spirit.”
“ It is only thanks to him, to the Spirit, that we can receive the mission of Christ and carry it out ”, he stressed.
“The proclamation of the Gospel, therefore, is carried out only in the power of the Spirit, which precedes the missionaries and prepares hearts: He is ‘the engine of evangelization,'” he continued.
In this sense, he recalled that the Apostles “do not follow this human wisdom, but rather adapt to the work of the Spirit who had anticipated them, descending both on the pagans and on them.”
“Together, without dividing themselves, despite having different sensitivities and opinions, they listen to the Spirit. And He teaches one thing, which is also valid today: every religious tradition is useful if it facilitates the encounter with Jesus ”, he affirmed.
“The Gospel is not an ideology”
He then assured that “the historic decision of the first Council, from which we also benefited, was motivated by a principle, the principle of the announcement.”
“In the Church -he explained-, everything must be in accordance with the demands of the proclamation of the Gospel; not to the views of conservatives or progressives, but to the fact that Jesus comes into people’s lives.”
In this line, he stated that “every choice, use, structure and tradition must be evaluated to the extent that it favors the proclamation of Christ.”