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Encyclicals of Pope Paul VI
Evangelii Nuntiandi / On Evangelization in the Modern World
This letter addresses the topic of spreading the faith in the modern world. Sections Introduction From Christ The Evangelizer To The Evangelizing Church What Is Evangelization? The Content Of Evangelization The Methods Of Evangelization The Beneficiaries Of Evangelization The Workers For Evangelization The Spirit Of Evangelization Conclusion Endnotes
64 pages, Paperback
First published December 8, 1975
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174 people want to read
About the author
Pope Paul VI
264 books32 followersPope Paul VI (Latin: Paulus VI; Italian: Paolo VI), born Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria Montini (26 September 1897 – 6 August 1978), reigned as Pope from 21 June 1963 to his death in 1978. Succeeding Pope John XXIII, he continued the Second Vatican Council which he closed in 1965, implementing its numerous reforms, and fostered improved ecumenical relations with Eastern Orthodox and Protestants, which resulted in many historic meetings and agreements. Montini served in the Vatican's Secretariat of State from 1922 to 1954. While in the Secretariat of State, Montini and Domenico Tardini were considered as the closest and most influential colleagues of Pope Pius XII, who in 1954 named him Archbishop of Milan, the largest Italian diocese. Montini automatically became the Secretary of the Italian Bishops Conference. John XXIII elevated him to the College of Cardinals in 1958, and after the death of John XXIII, Montini was considered one of his most likely successors.
Upon his election to the papacy, Montini took the pontifical name Paul VI (the first to take the name "Paul" since 1605) to indicate a renewed worldwide mission to spread the message of Christ, following the example of Apostle St. Paul.[citation needed] He re-convened the Second Vatican Council, which was automatically closed with the death of John XXIII, and gave it priority and direction. After the council had concluded its work, Paul VI took charge of the interpretation and implementation of its mandates, often walking a thin line between the conflicting expectations of various groups within Catholicism. The magnitude and depth of the reforms affecting all fields of Church life during his pontificate exceeded similar reform policies of his predecessors and successors. Paul VI was a Marian devotee, speaking repeatedly to Marian congresses and mariological meetings, visiting Marian shrines and issuing three Marian encyclicals. Following his famous predecessor Saint Ambrose of Milan, he named Mary as the Mother of the Church during the Second Vatican Council. Paul VI sought dialogue with the world, with other Christians, other religions, and atheists, excluding nobody. He saw himself as a humble servant for a suffering humanity and demanded significant changes of the rich in North America and Europe in favour of the poor in the Third World. His positions on birth control, promulgated most famously in the 1968 encyclical Humanae vitae, and other political issues, were often controversial, especially in Western Europe and North America.
Pope Benedict XVI declared that the late pontiff lived a life of heroic virtue and conferred the title of Venerable upon him. Pope Francis beatified him on 19 October 2014 after the recognition of a miracle attributed to his intercession. His liturgical feast is celebrated on the date of his birth on 26 September.
Upon his election to the papacy, Montini took the pontifical name Paul VI (the first to take the name "Paul" since 1605) to indicate a renewed worldwide mission to spread the message of Christ, following the example of Apostle St. Paul.[citation needed] He re-convened the Second Vatican Council, which was automatically closed with the death of John XXIII, and gave it priority and direction. After the council had concluded its work, Paul VI took charge of the interpretation and implementation of its mandates, often walking a thin line between the conflicting expectations of various groups within Catholicism. The magnitude and depth of the reforms affecting all fields of Church life during his pontificate exceeded similar reform policies of his predecessors and successors. Paul VI was a Marian devotee, speaking repeatedly to Marian congresses and mariological meetings, visiting Marian shrines and issuing three Marian encyclicals. Following his famous predecessor Saint Ambrose of Milan, he named Mary as the Mother of the Church during the Second Vatican Council. Paul VI sought dialogue with the world, with other Christians, other religions, and atheists, excluding nobody. He saw himself as a humble servant for a suffering humanity and demanded significant changes of the rich in North America and Europe in favour of the poor in the Third World. His positions on birth control, promulgated most famously in the 1968 encyclical Humanae vitae, and other political issues, were often controversial, especially in Western Europe and North America.
Pope Benedict XVI declared that the late pontiff lived a life of heroic virtue and conferred the title of Venerable upon him. Pope Francis beatified him on 19 October 2014 after the recognition of a miracle attributed to his intercession. His liturgical feast is celebrated on the date of his birth on 26 September.
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
March 15, 2019
“The question is undoubtedly a delicate one. Evangelization loses much of its force and effectiveness if it does not take into consideration the actual people to whom it is addressed, if it does not use their language, their signs and symbols, if it does not answer the questions they ask, and if it does not have an impact on their concrete life. But on the other hand evangelization risks losing its power and disappearing altogether if one empties or adulterates its content under the pretext of translating it; if, in other words, one sacrifices this reality and destroys the unity without which there is no universality, out of a wish to adapt a universal reality to a local situation. Now, only a Church which preserves the awareness of her universality and shows that she is in fact universal is capable of having a message which can be heard by all, regardless of regional frontiers.”
(Quoted from paragraph 63)
(Quoted from paragraph 63)
August 3, 2017
Like most papal documents, Paul VI's exhortation on evangelization is deceptively easy to read. It is supremely quotable and textually dense.
The text spans the need for evangelization in the world of 1975, when it was first released. It remains a necessary text today for many of the blocks of opinion which the church encounters in- and outside itself. Chapter 3 demonstrates the point well. This chapter seems to be a rebuff to Liberation Theology as an error, or at any rate as a sufficient form of church practice. The Church's role in ending suffering and systemic injustice is accepted (¶30) -
However, readers are cautioned, this is not the end of the work: "in order that God's kingdom should come it is not enough to establish liberation and to create well-being and development" (¶35).
Two parts of this discussion are equally resonant today. Commentators who view the church as tolerable only to the extent that it perform's socially useful services are cautioned that this limit is not acceptable (¶32):
There is an equally stern rebuke to the modern writers who talk gleefully about 'Elijah clearing houses with a shotgun': "The Church cannot accept violence, especially the force of arms - which is uncontrollable once it is let loose - and indiscriminate death as the path to liberation, because she knows that violence always provokes violence and irresistibly engenders new forms of oppression and enslavement which are often harder to bear than those from which they claimed to bring freedom" (¶37).
The discussion of responses to non-Christian religions bears re-reading when Evangelical belief has shrunk to a crude rejection of encounters with faith as 'fellowship with Baal'. Without conceding to a vague 'kumbaya', the significance of other faiths is firmly announced (¶53):
Chapter 6 covers the role to be played by members of the church in advancing evangelization, from the episcopate to the laity. The merit in the monastic life is firmly restated: Monks and nuns "embody the Church in her desire to give herself completely to the radical demands of the beatitudes. By their lives they are a sign of total availability to God, the Church and the brethren" (¶69). This bears repeating in the light of a hostility that seems to have begun in the Reformation and never quite ended:
Chapter 7 follows up with a reminder to the various Christian denominations that internal squabbles are deeply unhealthy for evangelization. Polemicists from Catholic, Protestant, Mormon and Orthodox traditions will probably all feel a little stung by the criticism in ¶77:
Most of the points His Holiness made in 1975 were strong than. Many have become even stronger in the intervening 40 years. Evangelii Nuntiandi should be read by anyone of a religious persuasion who wants to share their faith with the world.
The text spans the need for evangelization in the world of 1975, when it was first released. It remains a necessary text today for many of the blocks of opinion which the church encounters in- and outside itself. Chapter 3 demonstrates the point well. This chapter seems to be a rebuff to Liberation Theology as an error, or at any rate as a sufficient form of church practice. The Church's role in ending suffering and systemic injustice is accepted (¶30) -
It is well known in what terms numerous bishops from all the continents spoke of this [liberation] at the last Synod, especially the bishops from the Third World, with a pastoral accent resonant with the voice of the millions of sons and daughters of the Church who make up those peoples. Peoples, as we know, engaged with all their energy in the effort and struggle to overcome everything which condemns them to remain on the margin of life: famine, chronic disease, illiteracy, poverty, injustices in international relations and especially in commercial exchanges, situations of economic and cultural neo-colonialism sometimes as cruel as the old political colonialism. The Church ... has the duty to proclaim the liberation of millions of human beings, many of whom are her own children- the duty of assisting the birth of this liberation, of giving witness to it, of ensuring that it is complete. This is not foreign to evangelization.
However, readers are cautioned, this is not the end of the work: "in order that God's kingdom should come it is not enough to establish liberation and to create well-being and development" (¶35).
Two parts of this discussion are equally resonant today. Commentators who view the church as tolerable only to the extent that it perform's socially useful services are cautioned that this limit is not acceptable (¶32):
[M]any, even generous Christians who are sensitive to the dramatic questions involved in the problem of liberation, in their wish to commit the Church to the liberation effort are frequently tempted to reduce her mission to the dimensions of a simply temporal project. They would reduce her aims to a man-centered goal; the salvation of which she is the messenger would be reduced to material well-being. Her activity, forgetful of all spiritual and religious preoccupation, would become initiatives of the political or social order. But if this were so, the Church would lose her fundamental meaning. Her message of liberation would no longer have any originality and would easily be open to monopolization and manipulation by ideological systems and political parties. She would have no more authority to proclaim freedom as in the name of God.
There is an equally stern rebuke to the modern writers who talk gleefully about 'Elijah clearing houses with a shotgun': "The Church cannot accept violence, especially the force of arms - which is uncontrollable once it is let loose - and indiscriminate death as the path to liberation, because she knows that violence always provokes violence and irresistibly engenders new forms of oppression and enslavement which are often harder to bear than those from which they claimed to bring freedom" (¶37).
The discussion of responses to non-Christian religions bears re-reading when Evangelical belief has shrunk to a crude rejection of encounters with faith as 'fellowship with Baal'. Without conceding to a vague 'kumbaya', the significance of other faiths is firmly announced (¶53):
The Church respects and esteems ... non Christian religions because they are the living expression of the soul of vast groups of people. They carry within them the echo of thousands of years of searching for God, a quest which is incomplete but often made with great sincerity and righteousness of heart. They possess an impressive patrimony of deeply religious texts. They have taught generations of people how to pray. [However,] ... neither respect and esteem for these religions nor the complexity of the questions raised is an invitation to the Church to withhold from these non-Christians the proclamation of Jesus Christ. On the contrary the Church holds that these multitudes have the right to know the riches of the mystery of Christ - riches in which we believe that the whole of humanity can find, in unsuspected fullness, everything that it is gropingly searching for concerning God, man and his destiny, life and death, and truth. Even in the face of natural religious expressions most worthy of esteem, the Church finds support in the fact that the religion of Jesus, which she proclaims through evangelization, objectively places man in relation with the plan of God, with His living presence and with His action; she thus causes an encounter with the mystery of divine paternity that bends over towards humanity. In other words, our religion effectively establishes with God an authentic and living relationship which the other religions do not succeed in doing, even though they have, as it were, their arms stretched out towards heaven.
Chapter 6 covers the role to be played by members of the church in advancing evangelization, from the episcopate to the laity. The merit in the monastic life is firmly restated: Monks and nuns "embody the Church in her desire to give herself completely to the radical demands of the beatitudes. By their lives they are a sign of total availability to God, the Church and the brethren" (¶69). This bears repeating in the light of a hostility that seems to have begun in the Reformation and never quite ended:
Chapter 7 follows up with a reminder to the various Christian denominations that internal squabbles are deeply unhealthy for evangelization. Polemicists from Catholic, Protestant, Mormon and Orthodox traditions will probably all feel a little stung by the criticism in ¶77:
The power of evangelization will find itself considerably diminished if those who proclaim the Gospel are divided among themselves in all sorts of ways. Is this not perhaps one of the great sicknesses of evangelization today? Indeed, if the Gospel that we proclaim is seen to be rent by doctrinal disputes, ideological polarizations or mutual condemnations among Christians, at the mercy of the latter's differing views on Christ and the Church and even because of their different concepts of society and human institutions, how can those to whom we address our preaching fail to be disturbed, disoriented, even scandalized?
Most of the points His Holiness made in 1975 were strong than. Many have become even stronger in the intervening 40 years. Evangelii Nuntiandi should be read by anyone of a religious persuasion who wants to share their faith with the world.
April 17, 2021
Pope Saint Paul VI wrote a stellar evangelization document here.
Here are my thoughts:
1. I greatly enjoyed how the Pope stated that "the primary task of the Church is to evangelize."
2. The Pope mentions how "man today lives in the civilization of the image not the word anymore." With the changes in technological advancement the Pope felt that we need to acknowledge this and utilize images to help bring people to the Word (to Jesus through Scripture). I agree with the Pope on this. Since the time he had written this document to present day (2021) we know have media platforms, YouTube, and Netflix. People are reading less, which means that for evangelization an evangelizer must utilize both the image (video) and words (books).
3. The Pope is clear that utilizing technology for evangelization efforts is essential. He referred to video as a powerful pulpit.
4. One of the best thoughts by Pope Saint Paul VI was that he acknowledges that the greatest challenge of today and all times is the "split between the Gospel and culture." The Pope referred to this as the "greatest drama of the times and every era."
5. The Pope also stated that the Church's identity is clear - to evangelize.
6. Another key topic was how the Church cannot reset until she has done her best to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus.
7. I also enjoyed how the Pope encourages the youth to evangelize to the youth. I think this is an important topic in today's time. That evangelization is the task of every Christian (old and young).
8. I recommend this read as it is a quick read, filled with prudent thinking, and also because a saint wrote this document.
Here are my thoughts:
1. I greatly enjoyed how the Pope stated that "the primary task of the Church is to evangelize."
2. The Pope mentions how "man today lives in the civilization of the image not the word anymore." With the changes in technological advancement the Pope felt that we need to acknowledge this and utilize images to help bring people to the Word (to Jesus through Scripture). I agree with the Pope on this. Since the time he had written this document to present day (2021) we know have media platforms, YouTube, and Netflix. People are reading less, which means that for evangelization an evangelizer must utilize both the image (video) and words (books).
3. The Pope is clear that utilizing technology for evangelization efforts is essential. He referred to video as a powerful pulpit.
4. One of the best thoughts by Pope Saint Paul VI was that he acknowledges that the greatest challenge of today and all times is the "split between the Gospel and culture." The Pope referred to this as the "greatest drama of the times and every era."
5. The Pope also stated that the Church's identity is clear - to evangelize.
6. Another key topic was how the Church cannot reset until she has done her best to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus.
7. I also enjoyed how the Pope encourages the youth to evangelize to the youth. I think this is an important topic in today's time. That evangelization is the task of every Christian (old and young).
8. I recommend this read as it is a quick read, filled with prudent thinking, and also because a saint wrote this document.
March 1, 2022
A great work by the Roman Pontiff.
"[T]he presentation of the Gospel message is not an optional contribution for the Church. It is the duty incumbent on her by the command of the Lord Jesus, so that people can believe and be saved. This message is indeed necessary. It is unique. It cannot be replaced. It does not permit indifference, syncretism or accomodation. It is a question of people's salvation. It brings with it a wisdom that is not of this world. It is able to stir up by itself faith - faith that rests on the power of God. It is truth. It merits having the apostle consecrate to it all his time and all his energies, and to sacrifice for it, if necessary, his own life."
In this Apostolic Exhortation, Pope St. Paul VI speaks on the necessity of all the faithful to evangelize, noting first that the primary actor of evangelization is the Holy Spirit. This evangelization must be done in unity with the Church, rooted in the sacraments, and with great joy and hope. This is a work that every Catholic, and indeed all the baptized, should read. May this work convict us all to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ to all.
"[T]he presentation of the Gospel message is not an optional contribution for the Church. It is the duty incumbent on her by the command of the Lord Jesus, so that people can believe and be saved. This message is indeed necessary. It is unique. It cannot be replaced. It does not permit indifference, syncretism or accomodation. It is a question of people's salvation. It brings with it a wisdom that is not of this world. It is able to stir up by itself faith - faith that rests on the power of God. It is truth. It merits having the apostle consecrate to it all his time and all his energies, and to sacrifice for it, if necessary, his own life."
In this Apostolic Exhortation, Pope St. Paul VI speaks on the necessity of all the faithful to evangelize, noting first that the primary actor of evangelization is the Holy Spirit. This evangelization must be done in unity with the Church, rooted in the sacraments, and with great joy and hope. This is a work that every Catholic, and indeed all the baptized, should read. May this work convict us all to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ to all.
October 8, 2025
Es un documento pastoral de gran claridad y lucidez por parte de san Pablo VI. Es el segundo documento que leo de él y me gusta cómo escribe. Con apartados cortos, con frases sencillas, sin perderse en un profundidad teológica que te puede alejar si no eres un entendido o un experto.
Es un libro con muchas premisas válidas para el día de hoy. Expone ideas sobre cómo debe ser el contenido de la evangelización en los tiempos modernos, así cómo a quiénes y con qué debemos tener cuidado a la hora de evangelizar. Es una obra ligera de leer que todo educador cristiano, voluntario o trabajador, debiera leer para extraer ideas y sentimientos que pueden orientar el corazón y que son más que necesarios en el día de hoy.
Como digo siempre con este tipo de documentos, es una obra importante para entender su pontificado y para conocer al papa Montini.
Es un libro con muchas premisas válidas para el día de hoy. Expone ideas sobre cómo debe ser el contenido de la evangelización en los tiempos modernos, así cómo a quiénes y con qué debemos tener cuidado a la hora de evangelizar. Es una obra ligera de leer que todo educador cristiano, voluntario o trabajador, debiera leer para extraer ideas y sentimientos que pueden orientar el corazón y que son más que necesarios en el día de hoy.
Como digo siempre con este tipo de documentos, es una obra importante para entender su pontificado y para conocer al papa Montini.
August 28, 2020
I decided to read this when I heard that Pope Francis often referred to it. It is clear and concise, and it captures a moment in history that we are still living in. I think these sentences near the end capture the spirit of the whole text: 'The respectful presentation of Christ and His kingdom is more than the evangeliser's right; it is his duty. It is likewise the right of his fellow men to receive from him the proclamation of the Good News of salvation'.
September 21, 2020
Read for college if anything but a comeback to this site after too long.
I liked the general tone and its disposition to the refutation of myths such as thinking that the post council called for the silence in the arena of evangelization, will have to look at it more in depth.
I liked the general tone and its disposition to the refutation of myths such as thinking that the post council called for the silence in the arena of evangelization, will have to look at it more in depth.
December 30, 2023
Una mente maestra, un adelantado a su época, que exiquisites
December 23, 2025
Bagian dari Ajaran Sosial Gereja (ASG) Katolik berupa nasehat apostolik tentang mewartakan dan menyalurkan rahmat Allah kepada manusia dan alam semesta.
April 7, 2014
I hadn't read this apostolic exhortation before & didn't realize that, at least as a writer, Paul VI was able to articulate in a direct & fresh way some very sound & scripturally-based ideas on sharing the Good News, highly expressive of the ideas of the 2nd Vatican Council. (He wrote this on the 10th anniversary of the Council). Unfortunately, in the realm of action Paul VI turned out to be somewhat of a "tragic Pontiff", cowed by the Roman Curia into making some decisions which set the Council's initial work back decades. Nevertheless, his message here, in my reading of it, is certainly valid for the most part, and relevant even for serious Christians who aren't Roman Catholic.
May 23, 2014
This is a great read. This is the second time I've read this, and it was even better this time! Generally, I think this is essential reading for any pastor, catechist, or parent. Personally, I think every Baptized person needs to read it regardless of their profession.
July 1, 2016
Good and necessary! I only wish he'd written it after the Internet became a thing...though actually he kind of accounted for it, in a way. Anyway, I needed to read this and I'm glad I did.
October 3, 2014
Cornerstone masterpiece
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews