“By virtue of the baptism received and the consequent incorporation into the Church, every baptized person participates in the mission of the Church and, in it, in the mission of Christ the king, priest, and prophet,” he said.
In his weekly Wednesday audience in St. Peter’s Square, Pope Francis encouraged Catholics to reflect on the Second Vatican Council’s decree on missionary activity, Ad gentes (To the nations), which he said “reminds us that it is the task of the Church to continue the mission of Christ, who was ‘sent to preach the Gospel to the poor.’”
Quoting Ad gentes, he said: “‘The Church, prompted by the Holy Spirit, must walk in the same path on which Christ walked: a path of poverty and obedience, of service and self-sacrifice to the death, from which death he came forth a victor by his resurrection.’”
Pope Francis added that preaching the Gospel should be done in community and should never be a solitary or individualistic task independent of the Church.
“Today we listen to the Second Vatican Council to discover that evangelizing is always an ecclesial service, never solitary, never isolated or individualistic,” he said.