In his last meeting with the Roman clergy, on February 13, Benedict XVI referred, among the great themes of the Second Vatican Council, to the relationship between the Church and today's world, which appeared then "with great urgency".  

It was about facing "the themes of responsibility in the construction of this world, of society; responsibility for the future of this world and eschatological hope; the ethical responsibility of the Christian and where he finds his orientation".

In a letter written by the Pope on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the opening of the Council, he recalls how the reflection on the relationship between the Church and the modern world was the origin of the pastoral constitution Gaudium et spes on the Church in today's world.

Here," he notes, "was the point of the true expectation of the Council. The Church, which still in the Baroque period had shaped the world, in a broad sense, from the 19th century onwards had entered more and more visibly into a negative relationship with the modern age, which had only then fully begun". He then goes on to raise some of the questions that arose at the time: "Should things remain as they are? Could the Church take a positive step into the new era?" And he observes: "Behind the vague expression 'world of today' is the question of the relationship with the modern age. To clarify it, it was necessary to define more precisely what was essential and constitutive of the modern age" (Benedict XVI, text signed at Castelgandolfo, 2-VIII-2012).

Indeed, the pastoral constitution Gaudium et Spes on the Church in the Modern World addressed these questions, albeit only in an initial way. This is how the document begins: "The joys and hopes, the sorrows and anxieties of the people of our time, especially the poor and those who suffer, are at once the joys and hopes, the sorrows and anxieties of Christ's disciples" (GS, n. 1).

In this way, as in a prelude, the great topic is already announced: "The mystery of man is only clarified in the mystery of the incarnate Word (...) Christ, the new Adam, in the very revelation of the mystery of the Father and of his love, fully manifests man to man himself and reveals to him the sublimity of his vocation" (n. 22).

Thus, the salvation of man, of every man and of "the whole man" (body and spirit, in his relationship with the family, the work, society, etc.), is the goal of the mission statement of the Church and the mission statement of Christians.

This humanist line, marked by the Second Vatican Council and seconded by John Paul II (cf. encyclical Redemptor hominis), is reflected in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, which has an anthropological accent. That is to say, a fundamental, systematic and pedagogical concern for all that is of man.

This is also reflected in the developments of the Church's social doctrine promoted by the Polish Pope, and also concretely in the teachings of Benedict XVI, beginning with his first encyclical Deus Caritas Est (2005): "God loves man so much that, by becoming man himself, he accompanies him even in death and thus reconciles justice and love" (n. 10). For this reason, the Church promotes "a true humanism which recognizes in man the image of God and wishes to help him to live a life in conformity with this dignity" (n. 30).

In other words, love of God and neighbor, charity, is the main force for living this humanism. This is what the Pope says in his last encyclical(Caritas in veritate, 2009) from the very beginning: "Charity in truth, to which Jesus Christ bore witness by his earthly life and, above all, by his death and resurrection, is the main driving force behind the authentic development of each person and of all humanity" (n. 1) and to the end: "The most powerful force at the service of development is a Christian humanism" (n. 78).

Charity, the love of Christ that urges us (cf. 2 Cor. 5:14), should lead us to promote the integral development of man. And charity also implies evangelization, that is, the advertisement of Christ; for Christ, as we have already seen, is the one who manifests and realizes the fullness of the human person, of each one of them and of everything that affects them (in the family, in responsibility for the world, in cultural and social life, etc.). To be a Christian implies to have a mission statement: to be a witness of Christ by the example of one's own life and words.

Because he lives in Christ and with him, the Christian expects from God the establishment final of his Kingdom, the resurrection of the body, the final judgment and the ultimate renewal of the world, a set of events and realities included in Christian eschatology. This hope does not divert him from the commitment to achieve human progress, improving the world and improving himself. On the contrary, it impels him to improve society and to seek in it justice perfected by charity. Thus the Christian acts in the image of the true God, infinitely good and just, whose deepest truth is precisely his love, which Jesus has manifested to us. And he does all this with the power of that same love, which is given to him by the Holy Spirit.

It could be said that the Church does not have a model of society, but she does have a "project of man", that is, a Christian vision of man, which is always a vision open to God and to freedom, within the horizon of the civilization of love. The Church has, therefore, a basic ethical project , which is based on the natural law and is perfected by the beatitudes and the new law of grace and love, which has many different expressions. Also open are the various ways of organizing and deciding in the political and cultural fields.

At the beginning of the Synod on the new evangelization, Benedict XVI pointed out that the Gospel means good and saving news. In evangelization, the most important thing is not "our doing" but the "doing and speaking" of God. Our partnership consists in confessing the faith (which implies being ready to suffer to the point of giving one's life), above all with deeds of love (cf. speech, October 8, 2012). The essence of evangelization (and also, therefore, of the new evangelization) is prayer together with faith confessed and lived with all its consequences; transformed, therefore, into love for God and for others.

Already in his opening address speech of the Second Vatican Council (October 11, 1962), John XXIII had said: "The supreme concern of the Ecumenical Council is that the sacred deposit of Christian doctrine be guarded and taught in an ever more effective way..., that this true and immutable doctrine, which must be faithfully respected, be deepened and presented according to the demands of our time". For this reason, Benedict XVI proposes, we must return once again to the documents of the Council; so that, in a world that is moving away from God but in which there is no lack of thirst for God, "this faith may continue to be lived today, so that it may continue to be a living faith in a world in transformation"(Homily at the opening of the Year of Faith, October 11, 2012).

All this was summed up by the Pope in his last meeting with the priests of Rome, in his evaluation of the conciliar work : "The great document Gaudium et Spes analyzed very well the problem between Christian eschatology and worldly progress, between responsibility for tomorrow's society and the Christian's responsibility before eternity, and in this way it also renewed Christian ethics, the foundations". In this way - Benedict XVI pointed out - the Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Contemporary World established a general framework , from which other important texts emerged, such as the reflection on religious freedom and on interreligious dialogue.