Vatican City, Jul 15, 2008 / 08:11 am
The Holy Father’s message for the 82nd World Mission Day was released this past Saturday. In it, Pope Benedict emphasizes the need to proclaim the Gospel while identifying the Pauline Year as “an opportunity” to spread the Good News “unto the ends of the earth.”
The 82nd World Mission Day will be celebrated on October 19, 2008. In the Pope’s address, he explains that the current international situations of violence, poverty, discrimination, persecution, environmental concerns, and attacks on human life reveal that “humanity is suffering, it awaits true liberty, it awaits a new and better world, it awaits ‘redemption’.”
"Is there hope for the future? Or rather, is there a future for humanity?” The Holy Father asks. For those who believe in Christ, “the answer to these questions comes from the Gospel…Christ is our future.”
This is a teaching that St. Paul understood when he proclaimed that “only in Christ can humanity find redemption and hope."