Jag fortsätter att läsa sista intervjuboken med påve emeritus Benedict. ”Last Testament: In His Own Words”.

Intervjuaren frågar med anledning av den nya evangelisationen som påve Johannes Paulus II uppmanade till och det Påvliga rådet för främjande av Ny Evangelisation som Benedict XVI inrättade: Är det över huvud taget möjligt att tro sig kunna kristna Europa igen, är det inte att bedra sig själv?

”It is not permissible simply to give up proclaiming the gospel. Indeed, it seemed completely absurd in ancient times that a couple of Jews went out and sought to win the great, learned and knowledgeable Graeco-Roman world for Christianity. There will always be great failures too. We do not know how Europe will develop, or the degree to which it will still be Europe if different strata of the population newly structure it. But to proclaim this Word, which bears power in itself, to build the future which makes the lives of human beings meaningful, that is independent of any calculation of success, and absolutely necessary. The Apostles could not make sociological investigations, that happens or it doesn’t, but they had to trust in the inner power of this Word. At first, very few, lowly, people joined. But then the circle grew.

Of course the Word of Gospel can disappear from continents. Indeed we can see now that the Christian continents of the beginning, Asia Minor and North Africa, are no longer Christian. It can even disappear in places where it was dominant. But it can never remain unsaid;  will never be unimportant.”