As soon as he arrived in Portugal, Pope Benedict XVI clearly expressed that his visit wanted to be "a proposal of wisdom and of mission statement". A proposal that begins with man's openness to the God who created him, and therefore to truth, goodness and beauty; and that culminates in the fullness of life and wisdom that is Jesus Christ.

Specifically, the Holy Father pointed out that "the point core topic is the value attributed to the question of meaning and its involvement in public life". But be careful: "It is not a question of an ethical confrontation between a secular system and a religious system, but a question of the meaning to which one entrusts one's freedom". Indeed, people cannot live without an ideal that gives meaning to their existence.

With this in mind, on the plane that brought him from Rome, Benedict XVI pointed out three goals or challenges: the need to overcome rationalism closed to transcendence; the need, for the Christian faith, to be open to "concrete things" and to "responsibility towards the world"; and the urgency, in the Christian perspective, to return to "conversion, prayer, penance and the theological virtues", since the most important problems for the Church do not come from outside, but from within and consist above all in personal sins. At framework, the Pontiff reaffirmed that the Church remains committed to dialogue with cultures. A dialogue "that helps people to be open to all that is good, true and beautiful".