Francisco, the catechist will be a ministry

Alessandro De Carolis – Vatican City

He had it in his heart for a few years, since in a 2018 video message to the participants of an international conference on the subject, Francis clearly affirmed that the “catechist is a vocation”: “To be a catechist, such is the vocation, does not work as a catechist. “

And soon after, he added that this “form of service which is done in the Christian community” must be recognized “as a true and authentic ministry of the Church”. The conviction has matured and has taken the form of the Motu proprio Antiquum ministerium which will be presented next Tuesday at 11:30 a.m. at the Vatican Press Office, as announced today, in the presence of Bishop Rino Fisichella, president of the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of new evangelization, and Bishop Franz-Peter Tebartz-van Elst, delegate for catechesis at the dicastery.

First line

The Motu Proprio will therefore formally establish the ministry of the catechist, developing this dimension of evangelizing the laity desired by Vatican II. A role which, according to Francisco in the video message, corresponds to “a first announcement”. In a context of “religious indifference – the Pope had indicated – your word will always be a first announcement, which will reach the hearts and minds of so many people who hope to meet Christ”.

A community dimension

A service that must be lived with intensity of faith and in a community dimension, as was also underlined on January 31 in the audience with the participants in the meeting promoted by the National Office of Catechesis of the CEI. “This is the moment,” said the Pope, “to be artisans of open communities who know how to value each other’s talents. This is the time for missionary communities, free and disinterested, which seek neither relevance nor advantage, but walk the roads of the people of our time, leaning towards the marginalized “…