The Vatican’s doctrine office has published a new a document on how to pass on the Christian faith in a time of “epochal change” marked by a “crisis in the intergenerational transmission of the Christian faith”. Source: OSV News.
The document released yesterday, titled Venite ad Me (Come to Me), was issued by the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith and signed by its prefect, Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández.
Venite ad Me was written in response to a request first made by the late Pope Francis toward the end of his life and was approved for publication by Pope Leo XIV during an August 21 audience with Cardinal Fernandez and Msgr Armando Matteo, the secretary for the dicastery’s doctrinal section.
The more than 25,000-word document is divided into eight chapters. It discusses “the crisis in the transmission of faith” amid cultural changes, the breakdown of the family, and new digital technologies, underlining the need to communicate the kerygma or the essential proclamation of salvation offered by Christ’s death on the cross and resurrection.
While the impetus for the document came from his predecessor, the text also engages with ideas from Pope Leo’s first encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas, on artificial intelligence.
The document explores the need for the Church to focus on evangelising adults and catechising children and teenagers in response to how in many parts of the world “ever fewer parents are fulfilling their responsibility to introduce their children to the living light of the Gospel message.”
The text also touches on the role of the liturgy, beauty and personal witness in passing on the faith and contains a number of personal testimonies ranging from a Colombian man who recounts escaping drug addiction and gang life through a Christian rehabilitation program to a Belgian who says he was struck by a prayer he came across on TikTok.
Described as “a set of considerations,” rather than a doctrinal note, the document asserts it was written to stimulate reflection in the Church and pastoral commitment regarding the transmission of the faith.
According to Vatican News, many bishops’ conferences contributed to the document, including by submitting the testimonies included in its final chapter.
The document will serve as a starting point for thought by the International Theological Commission, which the text says will devote part of its work over the next five years to the cultural forms of transmitting the faith.
Pope Leo appointed 24 new members to the International Theological Commission earlier in the week, just three days before Venite ad Me was published.
FULL STORY
Vatican’s doctrine office publishes ‘Venite ad Me’ on passing on the faith amid ‘epochal change’ (By Courtney Mares, OSV News)
