Pope Benedict XVI announced the “Year of Faith” through his Apostolic Letter “Motu Propio Data”, “Porta Fidei”, 11 October 2011. He wrote: “In the light of all this, I have decided (Motu Propio) to announce a Year of Faith. It will begin on 11 October 2012, the fiftieth anniversary of the opening of the Second Vatican Council, and it will end on the Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, Universal King, on 24 November 2013” (n. 4).
Aim: “…to help people understand that the texts bequeathed by the Council Fathers need to be read correctly, to be widely known and taken to heart as important and normative texts of the Magisterium, within the Church’s tradition” (n. 5).
Church renewal through witness: “The renewal of the Church is also achieved through the witness offered by the lives of believers: by their very existence in the world, Christians are called to radiate the word of truth that the Lord Jesus has left us” (n. 6).
“The Year of Faith…is a summon to an authentic and renewed conversion to the Lord, the one Saviour of the World” (n. 6).
“Caritas Christi nos” (2 Cor. 5:14) Christ’s love “fills our hearts and impels us to evangelize” (n. 7). Motive to evangelize is Christ’s love.
The Year of Faith is “a good opportunity to intensify the celebration of the faith in the liturgy, especially in the Eucharist” (n. 9).
Two tasks: “to rediscover the content of the faith that is professed, celebrated, lived and prayed and to reflect on the act of faith…” (n. 9).
A path to better understand the content and act of faith. Pope Benedict quotes St. Paul: man believes with his heart and so is justified, and he confesses with his lips and so is saved” (Rom. 10:10). “The heart indicates that the first act by which one comes to faith is God’s gift and the action of grace which acts and transforms the person deep within” (n. 10).
Benedict XVI adds: “Confessing with the lips…implies public testimony and commitment”. Faith demands social responsibility” (n. 10).
Systematic knowledge of the content of the faith can be found in the Catechism of the Catholic Church (cf. 11). Important to retrace “ the history of our faith, marked…by the interweaving of holiness and sin” (n. 13).
Holy men and women contributed “to the growth and development” of the Church. While sin provokes in us “a sincere and continuing work of conversion” (n. 13).
Today, we need “credible witness of people enlightened in mind and heart by the Word of the Lord, and capable of opening the hearts and minds of many in the desire for God and for true life, life without end” (n. 15). Credibility and competence are qualities of effective evangelizers
