''Christus vivit'' (''Christ is alive'') is a post-synodal apostolic exhortation of

Pope Francis Pope Francis ( la, Franciscus; it, Francesco; es, link=, Francisco; born Jorge Mario Bergoglio, 17 December 1936) is the head of the Catholic Church. He has been the bishop of Rome and sovereign of the Vatican City State since 13 March 2013. ...

, written in response to the Fifteenth Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, on young people, faith and vocational discernment, held from 3 to 28 October 2018. The exhortation is addressed "to young people and to the entire people of God". The document is dated 25 March 2019, the day on which Francis signed the original Spanish text while visiting the Basilica of the Holy House of Mary in

Loreto, Italy Loreto ( , , ) is a hill town and ''comune'' of the Italian province of Ancona, in the Marche. It is most commonly known as the seat of the Basilica della Santa Casa, a popular Catholic pilgrimage site. Location Loreto is located above sea leve ...

, and published on 2 April, the anniversary of the death of

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...

, who was "the first Pope to address a letter to young people in 1985 and he was the Pope who began the World Youth Days". When the text was released on 2 April, the Vatican provided translations in Italian, French, English, German, Portuguese and Arabic. Though not published in Latin, the document takes its title from the Latin translation of its

incipit The incipit () of a text is the first few words of the text, employed as an identifying label. In a musical composition, an incipit is an initial sequence of notes, having the same purpose. The word ''incipit'' comes from Latin and means "it beg ...

(opening words), rendered in the English translation as "Christ is alive". The Vatican also provided a summary of the document by

Andrea Tornielli Andrea Tornielli (born 19 March 1964, in Chioggia) is an Italian journalist and religious writer. Biography A graduate in History of the Greek language, at the University of Padua, in December 1987, Tornielli became a Roman Catholic journalist ...

, the editorial director of the Holy See's

Dicastery for Communication The Dicastery for Communication ( it, Dicastero per la Comunicazione) is a division (dicastery) of the Roman Curia with authority over all communication offices of the Holy See and the Vatican City State. Its various offices can be accessed thro ...

. The 35,000 words in the English translation are organized into 299 paragraphs in nine chapters. Francis quoted the concluding document of the synod, discussed the problem of sexual abuse, as well as other abuses, committed by "some bishops, priests, religious and laypersons" and asked the young to participate in keeping priests true to their vows and vocations. He wrote: "If you see a priest at risk, because he has lost the joy of his ministry, or seeks affective compensation, or is taking the wrong path, remind him of his commitment to God and his people, remind him of the Gospel and urge him to hold to his course. In this way, you will contribute greatly to something fundamental: preventing these atrocities from being repeated." The document also acknowledged, among other things, the church's history of promoting male domination and clerical protection of "members of the Church" who committed "the abuse of power, the abuse of conscience, sexual and financial abuse" against women and children. The document further stated that the church had to repair its reputation with young people or risk becoming a "museum" if it did not change.

References

; Additional sources * * *

External links

* {{Authority control 21st-century Catholicism 2019 in Christianity 2019 in Vatican City Apostolic exhortations of Pope Francis