Four general audiences, an important speech of the Pope on the training of the laity, and the celebration of the third workshop World Organization of the Poor, provide abundant elements to highlight within the magisterium of Francis. In the next issue of the magazine we will refer to his teachings during the pastoral trip to Thailand and Japan.

Evangelization, inculturation and Christian families

On Wednesday, October 23, the Pope presented the mission statement of Paul and Barnabas and the Council of Jerusalem (cf. Acts 14:27), as model for the current impetus to evangelization and synodality.

The entire book of Acts "narrates the long journey of the Word of God", which must be proclaimed everywhere. The journey begins as a consequence of a severe persecution (cf. Acts 11:19), which becomes an opportunity for the Church "on the way out" to spread the Word of God everywhere, so that everyone can enter its space.

That is also why "churches should always have their doors open because that is the symbol of what a church is: always open".

And his openness to the Gentiles prompted the first Council of Jerusalem, showing that "the ecclesial method for the resolution of conflicts is based on dialogue made of attentive and patient listening and discernment made in the light of the Spirit", teaching to understand and practice synodality.

On the following Wednesday (October 30), Francis emphasized the protagonism of the Holy Spirit as the promoter of the arrival of the faith in Europe (cf. Acts 16:9). Through Macedonia, St. Paul arrived in Philippi, where he began the process of inculturation in Europe. First the conversion and baptism of Lydia and her family, and then - for having exorcised a slave girl exploited by her masters - the imprisonment of Paul and Silas, which providentially leads to the conversion of the jailer and his family, show the protagonism of the Holy Spirit in mission statement, precisely through the families.

Along the same lines, the General Audience of November 6 evoked the preaching of St. Paul in the Areopagus (cf. Acts 17:23) as an example of inculturation of the faith in Athens.

Paul observes that culture and environment, not with indifference or contempt, but with a "contemplative gaze," with eyes of faith. And he becomes a "pontiff," a bridge-builder (cf. Homily at St. Martha, May 8, 2013) with that culture, so that a man and a woman-Dionysius and Damaris-feel moved and are converted to the Lord.

Finally, on November 13, he referred to the hospitality that St. Paul found in the home of Aquila and Priscilla as a "domestic Church," a place where "to live communion and offer the worship of a life lived in faith, hope and charity." And he asked Christian couples, like Aquila and Priscilla, to "open the doors of their hearts to Christ and to their brothers and sisters and transform their homes into domestic churches".

Forming the laity from the heart of the mother Church

On November 16, the Pope addressed a speech to the first Plenary Assembly of the Dicastery for the Laity, Family and Life. He focused on two images: "to feel with the heart of the Church" and "to have a brotherly gaze".

In order to feel with the heart of the Church, he encouraged the members and consultors of that Dicastery, first of all, to go beyond a merely local perspective, to assume more and more the catholicity of the Church, that is, a magnanimous and universal vision. In addition to valuing one's own experiences and competencies, it is necessary to go beyond this context and place oneself at status of the "Mother Church", which always seeks harmony and partnership among her children, their growth and maturity, together with the custody of the living tradition of the family, and the response to current challenges in view of the future.

In order to maintain a brotherly look, he exhorted them to promote - in the training of the lay faithful - the meeting with Christ in prayer and sacramental life, as well as the accompaniment staff, also that realized with the financial aid of the laity themselves.

He encouraged them to "empathize with those Christians who live different experiences from yours": such as those who have few opportunities to training, live in multi-religious contexts, or cultivate exclusively popular religiosity or family prayer. He also pointed out to them that they should carry out their task in a creative and realistic way, keeping in mind that the purpose of the training of the laity is to help them to "live with joy, conviction and fidelity their belonging to Christ, being missionary disciples, protagonists in the promotion of life, in the defense of right reason, justice, peace, freedom, favoring a healthy coexistence among peoples and cultures".

Finally, the Pope stressed the importance of women in the Church, "beyond" functionality, that is, beyond the issues of ecclesial organization, however important they may be. "Woman," Francis observed, "is the image of the mother Church, because the Church is woman; she is not 'the' Church, she is 'the' Church. The Church is mother (...) It is that Marian principle proper to woman; a woman in the Church is the image of the Church spouse and of the Virgin."

In this way Francis outlined the role of women in the horizon already pointed out by St. John Paul II from the model of Mary: the fact that women are especially entrusted with the human person, as woman, mother and spouse, in the Church and in the world.

The poor: "gatekeepers of Heaven".

The third workshop World Day of the Poor was celebrated on Sunday, November 17. In his homily Francis fixed his gaze on the "ultimate realities" that open us to eternal life. We must not remain imprisoned by the "penultimate things" of our life on earth. It is necessary to overcome the temptation of haste, which changes the "forever" for the "right now". Thus we remain in the passing clouds and lose sight of heaven, without time for God or for our brothers and sisters who live next to us. As an antidote, he proposed perseverance: to fix our eyes on what does not pass: God and our neighbor.

A second deception is the temptation of self, which leads to whims and selfishness, pretense and hypocrisy. Instead, the Christian must ask himself, "Do I help someone from whom I will not be able to receive? Do I, a Christian, have at least one poor person as a friend?"

And the Pope exclaimed, "How beautiful it would be if the poor occupied in our hearts the place they have in the heart of God!"

Linking with the perspective of eternal life, he observed: "Being with the poor, serving the poor, we learn the tastes of Jesus, we understand what remains and what passes away".

In the midst of the things that are happening, Jesus wants to remind us today of the truly ultimate, the one that will remain forever:

"It is love, because "God is love" (1Jn 4:8), and the poor man who asks for my love leads me directly to Him."

And Francis concluded: "The poor facilitate our access to heaven; that is why the sense of faith of the People of God has seen them as the gatekeepers of heaven. From now on they are our treasure, the treasure of the Church, because they reveal to us the wealth that never grows old, that which unites heaven and earth, and for which it is truly worth living: love".

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In short, evangelization and inculturation are carried out at the pace of the growth of the family of God, outwardly and inwardly. And in this growth today we must pay special attention, on the one hand, to the lay faithful, who are the majority of God's holy people, directly responsible for the transformation of the world along the lines of peace and coexistence. At the same time, we must pay attention to the poor, because they place us precisely before the reality of love, which is the center and at the same time the horizon of an authentically Christian life.