Gaudete et exsultate
Gaudete et exsultate is the third apostolic exhortation of Pope Francis, dated and published on, subtitled "on the call to holiness in today's world". It addresses the universal call to holiness, with a focus "to repropose the call to holiness in a practical way for our own time".
The document is arranged in five chapters: on the call to holiness; on the heresies of Gnosticism and Pelagianism, described as "false forms of holiness"; on the Beatitudes and holiness in the Gospel; on five signs of holiness in the modern world and on spiritual combat against the Devil and discernment.
Gaudete et exsultate follows Francis's previous apostolic exhortations, Evangelii gaudium and Amoris laetitia. It is shorter, being 44 pages in length, compared to the 256 of Amoris laetitia and not post-synodal.
The document was released by the Holy See Press Office at a press conference on, the Solemnity of the Annunciation, presented by then-Archbishop Angelo De Donatis, the vicar general for Rome, Gianni Valente, a journalist and Paola Bignardi, of Azione Cattolica. It was also published in Arabic, in French, in German, in Italian, in Polish, in Portuguese and in Spanish, alongside English.
A few weeks earlier, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith released a letter to Catholic bishops, titled Placuit Deo, "on certain aspects of Christian salvation", which anticipated the central theme of Gaudete et exsultate, describing the modern forms of Pelagianism and of Gnosticism. It was approved by Francis on 16 February, signed by the Congregation's prefect, Archbishop Luis Francisco Ladaria Ferrer, on 22 February and released at a Vatican press conference on 1 March.
