Evangelii Nuntiandi §1

EVANGELII NUNTIANDI

APOSTOLIC EXHORTATION
OF HIS HOLINESS
POPE PAUL VI

TO THE EPISCOPATE, TO THE CLERGY
AND TO ALL THE FAITHFUL
OF THE ENTIRE WORLD

Venerable brothers and dear sons and daughters:
health and the apostolic blessing.

1. There is no doubt that the effort to proclaim the Gospel to the people of today, who are buoyed up by hope but at the same time often oppressed by fear and distress, is a service rendered to the Christian community and also to the whole of humanity.

For this reason the duty of confirming the brethren - a duty which with the office of being the Successor of Peter[1] we have received from the Lord, and which is for us a "daily preoccupation,"[2] a program of life and action, and a fundamental commitment of our Pontificate - seems to us all the more noble and necessary when it is a matter of encouraging our brethren in their mission as evangelizers, in order that, in this time of uncertainty and confusion, they may accomplish this task with ever increasing love, zeal and joy.

1. Cf. Lk 22:32.

2. 2 Cor 11:28.