b'Pope FrancissV ision ot long ago, I read a newspaper article reporting that officials in a government agency had been making decisions aimed at increasing their own power and wealth rather than serving the people the agency of the had been founded to serve. The story was sad but not unusual. What struck me about the article, though, was the tone. The journalist sounded shocked and outraged. Such feelings are ordinarily reserved for the editorial page. I wondered if maybe this reporter had been reading Evangelii gaudium (The Joy of the Gospel), in which Pope Francis Church laments that the majority of people accept, as usual, economic and social conditions that ought to evoke shock and outrage. Evangelii gaudium is an apostolic exhortation, a document written by a pope in response to a synod of bishops. 1This particular synod of bishops was held in Rome in 2012 on the topic of the new evangelization. Evangelization is the sharing of the good news of the gospel. The new evangelization emphasizes the need BY DENNIS DOYLE for Catholics to be evangelized themselves before they go about spreading the news. In his book-length response, Pope Francis uses the theme of evangelization as a framework for expressing his vision of the Catholic Church and its mission in the world today.DOWNLOAD THIS FOR YOUR CLASS TO READ: SMP.ORG/ASPIREVOL1ARTICLE 21'