The mission of the Church in the modern world

Abstract

The subject of the mission of the Church according to the Council document Gaudium et spes is addressed in the overall perspective of the "reception" of the Council. The study begins with a summary of the specific and new Gaudium et spes in its historical context and the changes of the time for the Catholic Church, "stupefied" looked at the world; then the gestation of Gaudium et spes is studied, making an assessment of the positive and negative aspects, as well as a first post-conciliar balance. Rereading the Constitution Gaudium et spes in a church transformed into a world much changed leads to the ecclesiological reflection upon receiving and tradition. These express a crisis in the relationship between the Church and the world, as well as changes in the theological conception of the world. Rereading is made in the light of the receipt of the document, then reframing the reception itself. In the current reform of the Church, tradition is understood as a creative process, thus open to some clues about the contours of being ecclesial and new social models of the future.