During the Jubilee of Hope this year in Rome, many are already talking about the big Jubilee year of 2033 a.d, the year in which our calendar marks the 2000th anniversary of the passing and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
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EWTN Vatican Bureau Chief Andreas Thonhauser brings together voices from Global 2033.
“Saint Paul VI, he wrote this Apostolic exhortation and there it’s written: ‘The church exists for evangelization.’ It means that the goal of the Church is not to [remain] in herself, but the main task of the Church is to expand the Kingdom of God in the surrounding world,” noted Archbishop Zbigņev Stankevičs, Diocese of Riga, Latvia.
How good are we as Catholics [when it comes to evangelization]?
“I think that we are just at the beginning.”
In the small Italian town Fiuggi, beautifully located in the hills just outside of Rome, the Catholic organisation Global 2033 brought together more than 200 leaders from across the globe to prepare for this next big jubilee. Participants came from various Christian denominations:
Pastor Rick Warren, Founder of Saddleback Church, highlighted, “On Pentecost Sunday, June 5th 2033, that will be the two thousandth birthday of Christianity. It’s the 2000th birthday of the Church, 2000th celebration of the resurrection, and so all around the world, Christians of every different tribe, for probably about a decade have been thinking how are we going to celebrate the 2000th birthday of Christ, the Church, the body of Christ on Earth? And people say, well, what do you give God, who has everything? He wants his lost children found.”
How are we Catholics reacting to this?
“There is a spirit of a new revival, of renewal, of a revitalization in the body of Christ. It’s happening among Catholics. It’s happening in, in other brands, or tribes, or groups of Christians. I’m seeing it particularly in the youngest generation. Here’s the big idea: Nobody can complete the Great Commission on their own. But together, if we each do our part, it’s not that hard because one out of every three people on the planet Earth claims to be a follower of Christ. God does not want uniformity. He wants unity.”
I saw you praying with Archbishop Stankevičs, with other leaders of other churches.
“Absolutely and I pray with anybody who believes Jesus Christ is the Lord of my life. And these are brothers and sisters in Christ.”
Archbishop Stankevičs travelled from Riga, Latvia to participate in the conference. He added:
“The focus is to transmit the gospel to millions of people. Leaders are invited from all over the world and the goal is to help them to be equipped with instruments, how to do it, how to transmit a message, how to make discipleship and inspire people to share the Gospel.”
He also shared with the group his own experiences in evangelizing.
“I have also 10 years of experience being a lay person, as an engineer. And I was trying to evangelize. I was a member of an underground Ecumenical group. And I felt in my heart this desire, this fire to evangelize everybody around me.”
And underground, because this was still under the Soviet Union.
“In the Soviet Union and after three years of my staying there, this community was persecuted. The founder was put in prison.”
Sabina and Henry Cappello, who are the founders of Global 2033 explain further what motivated them to mark the year 2033 in their calendars and bring high level Christian leaders together in Rome:
“Global 2033 is primarily a consortium of organizations and movements, dioceses and entities in the Catholic Church with one objective: to bring the Gospel to all mankind. To fulfil the Great Commission. 2000 years after Jesus said to us to go and make disciples, in our nations, only 1/3 of the population of 8 billion people have heard about Jesus and have accepted Jesus in their lives as their Lord and Saviour.”
This Pentecost, Pope Leo XIV also spoke about evangelization and highlighted its importance:
“Evangelization, dear brothers and sisters, is not our attempt to conquer the world, but the infinite grace that radiates from lives transformed by the Kingdom of God. Evangelization is always God’s work. The challenges facing humanity will be less frightening, the future will be less dark and discernment will be less complicated. if together we obey the Holy Spirit!”
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Adapted by Jacob Stein
Produced by Alexey Gotovosky; Camera by Fabio Gonnella, Sergio Natoli; Video Edited by Giada D’Ottavi; Special thanks & Credits to Global 2033, Comune di Fiuggi, PiccolaGrandeItalia.tv
