Evangelii Gaudium–Insights

The Newness about the New Evangelization (The Method)

The joy of the Gospel that Pope Francis speaks of in his Apostolic Exhortation is not simply a joy one cherishes within self! It is a universal joy to be propagated. This is what is called evangelization. Now the question is: How could we spread the joy of the Gospel? At one time it was […]

The Newness about the New Evangelization (The Ardour)

We may now focus our attention on the newness of the ‘new evangelization’ which is indeed the core theme of the whole Apostolic Exhortation: Evangelii Gaudium. Quoting Saint Irenaeus Pope Francis writes: “By his coming, Christ brought with Him all newness.” With this newness He is always able to renew our lives and our communities, […]

Individualism

Individualism is a social theory that favours freedom of action for individuals over collective or state control. It emphasizes the moral worth of individual so much that it opposes any external interference from society upon one’s own interests. It upholds one’s independence and self-reliance in exercise of one’s goals and desires. In a word it […]

A Cultural Crisis in Family

Pope Francis in Evangelii Gaudium refers to the family crisis viewed from the cultural standpoint. “The family is experiencing a profound cultural crisis”, it says, because just as the bonds of all communities and social bonds are getting fragmented so too the family bonds are getting more easily broken.This sort of the weakening of bonds […]

The Process of Secularization

One of the cultural challenges to the Church today is the process of secularization. Pope Francis in EG expresses the following concerns: (1) “The process of secularization tends to reduce the faith and the Church to the sphere of the private and personal.” 2) It rejects the role of transcendent principle in life. (3) This […]

New Religious Movements

Among the new cultural trends that pose themselves as challenges to the Church today, Pope picks up ‘proliferation of new religious movements’ also for consideration in his Apostolic Exhortation, Evangelii Gaudium. The term ‘new religious movement’ is used in broad sense to identify variety of religious, ethical, and spiritual groups and communities that have modern […]

Erosion of Local Cultural Values

Among the cultural challenges that the Church has to encounter today, the one that draws the concern of the Pope Francis is the loss of local cultural values on account of the prevailing culture of modernity. For, he says, in it “priority is given to the outward, the immediate, the visible, the quick, the superficial […]

Economics Without Ethics

After warning us to be careful about the economy’spitfalls such as its ‘approach of exclusion’ and “attitude of worshipping the money-idol,’ Evangelii Gaudium goes deeper into the root cause of these dangers. It is none other than its ‘rejection of ethics and God.’ Ethics is a philosophical discipline that ‘deals with values related to human […]

Hindus call off rally through Christian villages in eastern India

Dayal among three awarded for promoting religious freedom, civil liberties