Pope Francis Encourages Digital Evangelizers "“We must find new ways to proclaim the heart of the Gospel to those who have not yet encountered Christ”



Pope Francis sent a video message to participants in a conference in Mexico, and urges “digital evangelizers” to reach out to people who have not yet encountered Christ. The  young people were taking part in the “Hechos 29”, or “Acts 29” event. The international conference took place on 5-6 August in Monterrey, Mexico, and brought together “digital evangelizers”
Pope Francis: ‘Never tire of making mistakes while preaching Christ online’
“The Lord knocks on the door to enter within us, but how many times He also knocks on the door inside for us to let Him out!”
“May this meeting help you to feel you are a community, as a part of the missionary life of the Church, which has never been afraid to go towards new horizons and frontiers and, with creativity and courage, announce the mercy and tenderness of God.”
“We must find new ways to proclaim the heart of the Gospel to those who have not yet encountered Christ,” he repeated. “This calls for a pastoral creativity capable of reaching people where they are living—not waiting for them to come—find opportunities for listening, dialogue and encounter.”
“I never tire of repeating that I prefer a Church that is wounded because it ventures out to the existential peripheries of the world, to a Church that is sick because it remains closed up in its petty securities.”

By treating others well online, he said, contemporary culture may come to “know God by feeling Him in you.
“Go and take the hope of Jesus, especially to those who are most distant, giving them reasons for the hope that is in them,” he said.
“May words be accompanied by charity,” said Pope Francis, “and may virtuality strengthen presence, so that the web may generate communion that makes Jesus present in its own culture.”
Excerpts from Vatican News

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