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POPE-ANGELUS Oct-19-2009 (230 words) With photos. xxxi
Church must proclaim its message of hope to all people, pope says
By Carol Glatz
Catholic News Service
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The church must bear witness to and proclaim its message of hope to all humanity, Pope Benedict XVI said.
The Gospel guides people toward the building of one human family living in justice and peace "under the paternity of the one God, who is good and merciful," he said in his Sunday Angelus address Oct. 18 at the Vatican.
The pope said World Mission Sunday, which is observed Oct. 18 in most countries, reminds the faithful of their duty "to proclaim and bear witness to the Gospel to everyone, in particular to those who still don't know it."
"The church exists to proclaim this message of hope to all of humanity, which in our time 'has experienced marvelous achievements but which seems to have lost its sense of ultimate realities and of existence itself,'" he said, citing Pope John Paul II's encyclical "Redemptoris Missio" ("The Mission of the Redeemer").
Pope Benedict urged the church community to continue Christ's work of proclaiming "the kingdom of God, which is justice, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit."
He recalled the hardships, sacrifices and persecution some missionaries face in bringing the Gospel to the world.
The pope mentioned by name Italian missionary Father Ruggero Ruvoletto, who was killed in September in Brazil, reportedly by suspected robbers, and Columban Father Michael Sinnott, who was abducted in the Philippines Oct. 11.
END
Copyright (c) 2009 Catholic News Service/USCCB. All rights reserved.
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed.
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