The Second Vatican Council marked the beginning of the New Evangelization. It sought to communicate the Gospel’s perennial newness to the contemporary world in a spirit of joy and hope. Yet despite the exhortations of Paul VI and John Paul II, a number of ecclesial and cultural factors deflected the church’s evangelical energies, so that the council’s radiant Christocentric vision faded in an increasingly polarized church.

In this important new work, Robert Imbelli probes the council’s comprehensive Christocentric vision and its evangelical imperative. It maintains that Jesus Christ cannot be separated from his body, the church, and that the Eucharist effects the ongoing intimate communion between Head and members. It is this life-giving communion that the church desires to share with the wider world as the world’s truth and salvation. Drawing on the writings of Pope Benedict and the witness of Pope Francis, Imbelli’s insights will help transform what is merely notional for the reader into a vivid reality through the lure of beauty. Includes four-color illustrations.