Novo Millennio ineunte
Novo Millennio Ineunte (German: At the beginning of the new millennium ) is an Apostolic Letter of Pope John Paul II, which he published at the end of the Jubilee Year 2000. On January 6, 2001, Pope John Paul II had solemnly closed the year of the Great Jubilee 2000 and promulgated this Apostolic Letter at the closing service. In this document he wants the Church "roadmap " give for the newly started third millennium after Christ. The papal letter consists of four parts:
1 THE ENCOUNTER WITH CHRIST, THE HERITAGE OF THE GREAT JUBILEE
2 THE FACE, THAT THERE SHALL BE CONSIDERED
3 NEW BEGINNING IN CHRIST
4 A FUTURE OF LOVE
Motto: retrospect and future
Being selected for this letter, is the motto invitation of Jesus Christ to Simon Peter: " Duc in altum - Put out into the deep and let down the nets " (Lk 5,4 EU) " This word ," says the Pope, " today sounds for us and invites us to be grateful to remember the past, live the present with enthusiasm and confidence to look forward to the future." ( cf. Novo Millennio ineunte (NMI ), 1 )
The Holy Father writes: "If we allow the word of Christ, that it penetrates us with all his might: Duc in altum! It was Peter, the word of faith spoke at that fish. , But if you say so, I will let down the nets ' Allows the Successor of Peter, in this beginning of the millennium the whole Church to this act of faith to invite " (NMI, 38 ).
John Paul II sees the event of the Holy Year 2000 is not as past but as a prophecy of the future: " What we have done this year, may not serve as a justification for a feeling of self-satisfaction. Still less can it tempt us to put our hands in your lap ... When it comes to the kingdom of God is not a time for looking back, and even less to into laziness. Much awaits us, and therefore we must begin to create an effective pastoral program for the period after the anniversary (NMI, 15) ... Let's go forward in hope! A new millennium is opening before the Church like a vast ocean upon which we shall venture down ... At the beginning of this new century, our steps must be faster (NMI, 58) ... After the excitement of the anniversary we return in no gray everyday life back. On the contrary, when our pilgrimage was serious, he has our legs as it were relaxed for the path that is waiting for us (NMI, 59). "
Exhortation: a reminder and call
In view of humanity today, the Pope warns in his Exhortation to the responsibility for avoiding the impending ecological collapse that would make large areas of the planet inhospitable and uninhabitable. Similarly, the responsibility for peace among the nations and the peoples remains acute. Given the globalization applies: a peaceful world or no world. A significant contribution to peace is the reduction of injustice that few favors when technological, economic, cultural growth and excludes millions from progress. Similarly, the respect for human dignity from conception to natural death. Like any technology must never disregard the fundamental demands of ethics and biotechnology. God's plan regarding marriage and family, which is inscribed in the nature of man and woman, which is now torn down to the legislation in, must be recognized and known.
Accountability: evangelization and Religion
In our world situation, Christians can less than ever a " intimist ( not for any other particular ) and individualistic ( self-referential ) Spirituality " (NMI, 52) afford. The love they committed " to serve the culture, politics, the economy and the family" (NMI, 51). In view of Christianity, the Pope three main responsibilities calls in his letter to the new millennium into consciousness: a ) the object of increased evangelization, since two -thirds of humanity Jesus does not even know Christ; b. ) then the task of interreligious dialogue in order to avoid religious discrimination and even violent religious conflicts, to explore more spiritual wealth in non-Christian religions, and c. ) to Jesus of Nazareth as the incarnate Son of God to capture deeper and the world imagine as their true Savior welcoming.
Challenges: holiness and pastoral
Emphatically stressed Novo Millennio Ineunte that the individual Christian and the church will be a total of only meet the challenges of the new millennium, when they strive for " holiness " above all other things and with the highest use. You must be the permanent focal point of any pastoral plan and the scale of ordinary Christian life, which of course also has its personal touch ever. " Since the baptism can be formed by the incorporation into Christ and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit enter into the holiness of God, it would be absurd, as the Pope, to be satisfied with a mediocre life, which made the sign of a minimalist ethics of a shallow religiosity is " (NMI, 31). His greatest desire for the third Christian millennium, called the Pope: "That the whole Church constantly looking to Jesus, listen to Jesus and Jesus to the world offers. He and not a magic formula is the inspiring program and the pastoral grammar for all church doing ". (NMI, 16-28 ).