Pope Francis to Release First Apostolic Exhortation

The document will be proclaimed at the Nov. 24 closing Mass for the Year of Faith.

VATICAN CITY — The Vatican announced today that Pope Francis will deliver his first post-synodal apostolic exhortation to coincide with the end of the Year of Faith.

During a Nov. 18 press conference, the Holy See revealed that the title of the new document is “Evangelii Gaudium,” or “The Joy of the Gospel,” which will be publicly proclaimed by the Pope during the closing Mass for the Year of Faith on Sunday, Nov. 24.

The exhortation is a concluding document of last year’s Synod of Bishops, which centered on the theme of “The New Evangelization for the Transmission of the Christian Faith.”

Although the Pope will make the initial proclamation on Nov. 24, the official presentation will take place on Tuesday, Nov. 26, in the John Paul II Hall of the Vatican.

Pope Francis will deliver the exhortation to “a bishop, a priest, a deacon, religious men and women, novices, a family, catechists, artists, journalists, young people, the elderly and the sick,” noted Archbishop Rino Fisichella.

Archbishop Fisichella, who will be present at the official presentation on Nov. 26, is the president of the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of the New Evangelization.

“Namely,” he continued, “it will be delivered to all those in various stages of life, who as Christians are called to be evangelizers.”

“The Year of Faith becomes a commitment that the Church assumes her duty once again to bring the Gospel to every creature,” added the archbishop.

Altogether, there will be 36 people present for the event, representing 18 different countries and five continents, the Vatican announced at the Nov. 18 press conference.

Special note was made that the bishop, priest and deacon to whom the Pope will deliver the exhortation come from Letonia, Tanzania, Australia and were chosen because of their youth.

It was also disclosed that the document might not be a “classical” post-synodal apostolic exhortation, and due to this fact, the preparation and structure of the document remain unknown.