They turn to him even when he is an “unknown God” to them: when they “worship [him] as unknown” (Acts 17:23).

The Kingdom of God is “already” in the world, in the history of humanity, but “not yet” in its proper dimension.

the “growth” of this kingdom, which is the ultimate goal and destiny of all creation,

From this heroic “obedience of faith” was born the imperative of evangelization, which proved to be even more powerful than bloody persecution, especially in the first three centuries under the Roman Empire, and later in different centuries and various places of the Ecumene (oikoumene, “the house where we all live”).

The Church believes that greater than this evil, greater than the “sin of the world,” is love. Above all things is the love with which God loved the world: he loved it in his Only-begotten Son, whom he “gave” for the redemption of the world. This love “has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us” (Rom 5:5).

“The Church firmly believes that Christ, who died and was raised up for all, can through His Spirit offer man the light and the strength to measure up to his supreme destiny” (GS, 10). The Church accomplishes this in a sacramental way through Baptism. At the same time, however, she believes that the divine economy of salvation and grace extends bey

“He suffers from internal divisions, and from these flow so many and such great discords in society” (GS, 10). “Since all these things are so, the modern world shows itself at once powerful and weak, capable of the noblest deeds or the foulest.” The task of the human being is “to guide aright the forces which he has unleashed and which can enslave

that it devolves on humanity to establish a political, social and economic order which will growingly serve man and help individuals as well as groups to affirm and develop the dignity proper to them” (GS, 9).

The contemporary person, especially in the context of Western civilization, sees freedom as his very reason for being. His goal for human existence is to achieve maximum autonomy. However, this person cannot fail to perceive that Christ is the embodiment of perfect freedom. A significant thing: the one who repeatedly submits to the will of the Fath