"But when the Son of man comes , will he find faith on earth?" With this overwhelming question, of eschatological bearing, Jesus concludes his parable of the wicked judge. As we read it, Benedict XVI's words come to mind, spoken in the context of the Year of Faith that is now beginning: "Faith has almost died out in many places on earth".

Are we already at the end of the world? This is an interesting question that worries more than one millenarian, and there have always been some, especially in evangelical environments, with a more or less Calvinist influence. It should be clarified, therefore, if we are already in that extreme status, or not yet. Although the signs seem to suggest it, I think that things are not yet so bad.

Nevertheless, the Holy Father has warned in his Constitution The Door of Faith, by which he convokes the Year of Faith now being inaugurated, that " Christians are often very concerned about the social consequences [...] of their commitment, while continuing to consider the faith as an obvious budget of common life. In fact, this budget not only does not appear as such, but is even often denied."

So it is not that faith has almost disappeared from the earth; the problem is different. It lies, in my opinion, in the fact that unexpectedly there has been a fairly general dialectical confrontation between being-religious and being-believer. New religious forms which, despite secularism, are springing up everywhere and have invaded the first world in a short time, do not in themselves entail a strengthening of faith. It is therefore necessary to distinguish between being philanthropic and supportive, on the one hand, and being faithful to Jesus Christ, on the other. Without wishing to set them against each other, it must be said that they are different attitudes, although they can be complementary. Taking our reasoning to the limit, we can affirm that it is not the same thing to be religious as to be a believer; without undervaluing the first condition, proper to human nature, because all men are naturally religious, we must affirm, however, the second. One is religious by natural birth; one is a believer by a new supernatural "birth", that is, by grace, as Jesus' conversation with Nicodemus makes clear.

My long reasoning has finally brought us to the heart of the problem. It is necessary to specify what it is to be a true believer. It is not only to manifest oneself more or less as a follower of Jesus Christ, but also to profess - with grace - the fundamental contents of the faith, which are expressed in action, in living with the criteria of good ethics and in contributing to the good of the person and of society. The Year of Faith should therefore be a year of intense catechesis, at all levels.