Apostolic Exhortation on the Call to Holiness in the Modern World.
«Gaudete et exsultate (Rejoice and be glad) is the title of the new apostolic exhortation that Pope Francis has wanted to dedicate to the call to holiness in the world today.
The title corresponds to the last phrases of the Beatitudes: "Rejoice and be glad, for your reward will be great in heaven."
The fruits of the Church are those Christians who have tried to live the command of God: "Be holy as your heavenly Father is holy." The grace of holiness is not the privilege of a few, but of all the people of God: priests, religious and lay people; who live in the modern world, facing the same concerns as the rest of their fellow citizens.
Gaudete et exsultate is the fifth document written by Francis in these five years of pontificate. This is not the first time that the Pope has published a text with references to joy: the exhortations Evangelii gaudium (The joy of the Gospel) of 2013, Amoris laetitia (The joy of love) of 2016, and the encyclical Laudato si' (Praise be to you) of 2015. Texts to which must be added the first encyclical Lumen fidei (The Light of Faith) of 2013.