18.
The theme assigned to the Special Assembly — "The Church in Africa and her
evangelizing mission towards the Year 2000. ?You shall be my witnesses' (Acts
1:8)" — expresses my desire that this Church should live the time
leading up to the Great Jubilee as "a new Advent", a time of
expectation and preparation. In fact I consider preparations for the Year 2000
as one of the keys for interpreting my Pontificate.20
The
series of Synodal Assemblies which have taken place in the course of nearly
thirty years — General Assemblies and Special Assemblies on a continental,
regional or national level — are all part of preparing for the Great Jubilee.
The fact that evangelization is the theme of all these Synodal Assemblies is
meant to indicate how alive today is the Church's awareness of the salvific mission
which she has received from Christ. This awareness is especially evident in the
Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortations devoted to evangelization, catechesis, the
family, reconciliation and penance in the life of the Church and of all
humanity, the vocation and mission of the lay faithful and the formation of
priests.
|