Evangelii Nuntiandi §59

59. If people proclaim in the world the Gospel of salvation, they do so by the command of, in the name of and with the grace of Christ the Savior. "They will never have a preacher unless one is sent,"[81] wrote he who was without doubt one of the greatest evangelizers. No one can do it without having been sent.

But who then has the mission of evangelizing?

The Second Vatican Council gave a clear reply to this question: it is upon the Church that "there rests, by divine mandate, the duty of going out into the whole world and preaching the gospel to every creature."[82] And in another text: "...the whole Church is missionary, and the work of evangelization is a basic duty of the People of God."[83]

We have already mentioned this intimate connection between the Church and evangelization. While the Church is proclaiming the kingdom of God and building it up, she is establishing herself in the midst of the world as the sign and instrument of this kingdom which is and which is to come. The Council repeats the following expression of St. Augustine on the missionary activity of the Twelve: "They preached the word of truth and brought forth Churches."[84]

81. Rom 10:15.

82. Declaration on Religious Liberty Dignitatis Humanae, 13: AAS 58 (1966), p 939; cf. Dogmatic Constitution on the Church Lumen Gentium, 5: AAS 57 (1965) pp. 7-8; Decree on the Church's Missionary Activity Ad Gentes, 1: AAS 58 (1966), p. 947.

83. Decree on the Church's Missionary Activity Ad Gentes, 35: AAS 58 (1966), p. 983.

84. Saint Augustine, Enarratio in Ps 44:23: CCL XXXVIII, p. 510; cf Decree on the Church's Missionary Activity Ad Gentes, 1: AAS 58 (1966), p. 947.