Pope Francis’ new apostolic exhortation is an exhortation of fresh air. It re-emphasises that the process of evangelisation is not one that should be restricted to the clerical circle but one that should be tackled by every Catholic layman and woman, as it is a basic foundational obligation of our baptism.

Unfortunately, many Catholics think or act in a way that restricts the spread of the gospel message to Sunday church-going alone and is restricted to the clerical sub-caste. Few indeed realise that this is a failure of our most fundamental obligations as Christians. I am not inferring that we should go out in the street knocking on doors with a Bible in hand, explaining its message. Few people may feel called to do this. What we are all inexorably called to do – in our daily life and relationships – is go apply the gospel message to the fullest and make our family (children!) and friends aware of it. We can do this firstly through our personal behaviour and the way we live and, secondly, by the friendship and words of encouragement we extend to those around us – taking the opportunity to spread the gospel message through our friendship and the other opportunities that crop up in a personal dimension.

This is something we may all do and it is the harbinger of the joy referred to in the exhortation. Unfortunately, few lay people take this obligation seriously and few realise that it is one of the most fundamental obligations in our life as Catholics. Among the talents that Christ has given us, and expects us to increase throughout our lifetime, is surely this process of apostolate and I suppose that it is one of the talents that Christ will take us to task for, if we have not used it and increased it by our life’s end.

The exhortation also makes clear that the clergy must be careful not to fall into the trap of thinking or believing that the duty to evangelise is only theirs. In a recent discussion with a priest acquaintance of mine, he let me know in a not very subtle way that he does not really trust lay people in evangelisation and that he therefore feels the need to take on the obligation fully himself. To this I replied that he should trust lay people according to their talents in their respective fields but I emphasised that they all had talents, just as I emphasised that these may not come without training and progress in matters of apostolate, which responsibility is both his and the layman’s, if he or she realises the need to take the vocation as a Catholic seriously.

It is highly interesting that the Pope seems to be trying to open up new attitudes here, ones which will make ordinary people feel closer to God and his church. One aspect that impressed me is the call for a greater emphasis on circumstances when considering the daily lives of individuals in the evaluation of their moral acts. It is obvious that the Pope is calling us to reach out further to those on the boundaries in an outreach that should make people on the periphery – often through no fault of their own – see themselves not so much as outcasts but more as members of a Church made up of sinners, but which opens itself up to the opportunities for personal change through the personal encounter with God.

God has the capacity to call people to him in a singular way and he does it with all of us, uniquely and incessantly. At one point or other in our life, God will touch us irrevocably and in a singular manner and maybe the Church needs to prepare all of us for these moments of personal conversion. Here one recalls the exhortation by St Paul that, in the final analysis, we are all really only justified through our belief in Christ! It would be childish and groundless to think, however, that this belief should not be reflected also in our works!

Could this new opening by the Pope be reflected in a more open and reconciliatory approach to certain people finding themselves in difficult circumstances? Could those such as remarried divorcees, separated people living in a cohabiting relationship, people living in a homosexual relationship, married people using contraceptives, married people using IVF to bear children having taken the necessary precautions not to destroy innocent human life, and other situations too innumerable to mention find a more understanding Church?

I know that the Church teaches that, in order to receive Holy Communion, one should be in a state to do so, but should this sacrament remain available only for those in a state of near perfection, or should we move away from a possibly obsessive position with objective perfection to one which gives more weight to subjective circumstances and looks on communion as a form of grace or extra help that may be imparted by God to us all, all living in a less than perfect moral state? Of course, the correct place to sort this out should always be in the confessional sacrament on a personal level, but a change in the Church’s attitude might go a long way towards keeping people making the effort!

The Pope’s call for more positions of responsibility in the Church is indeed enlightening and essential as, indeed, is his call to learn more about the meaning of the synodal participation of bishops in church management from our Eastern Christian brothers. These brothers may also teach us much about creating more positions for married priests within the church without removing the options of celibacy for those who want it and, of course, the attendant different responsibilities must go with the choices that are made. Also refreshing is the referral to living in peace with people of a different religious persuasion which is not only possible but mandatory in the search for a respect that should be shrouded in mutuality when seeking God.

These are indeed interesting times!