Catechesis With Saint John Paul Ii

St John Paul II, 8 August 1979: "The Pope, whom Christ called to Himself on the solemnity of the Transfiguration, continuously worked tirelessly for the transformation of man, of society, of systems, work which was to bear the fruits so much desired by men, by nations, by the whole of humanity: the fruits of justice and peace. By looking with assiduous attention, and sometimes perhaps with disquiet, and above all with continual Christian hope, at the multiform development of events in the contemporary world, he always worked in favour of that civilization that he called "civilization of love", in the spirit of Christ's greatest commandment. The Church places herself at the service of this "civilization of love" through her mission, linked to the announcement and realisation of the Gospel. Particularly dear to Paul VI was evangelization in the contemporary world to which — at the request of the bishops gathered at the Synod in 1974 — he dedicated a magnificent exhortation, Evangelii Nuntiandi, which is like a