The most recent Popes gave catechesis a place of eminence in their pastoral solicitude. Through his gestures, his preaching, his authoritative interpretation of the Second Vatican Council (considered by him the great catechism of modern times), and through the whole of his life, my venerated predecessor Paul VI served the Church’s catechesis in a particularly exemplary fashion. On March 18, 1971, he approved the General Catechetical Directory prepared by the Sacred Congregation for the Clergy, a directory that is still the basic document for encouraging and guiding catechetical renewal throughout the Church. He set up the International Council for Catechesis in 1975. He defined in masterly fashion the role and significance of catechesis in the life and mission of the Church when he addressed the participants in the first International Catechetical Congress on September 25, 1971,1 and he returned explicitly to the subject in his Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii nuntiandi.2 He decided that catechesis, especially that meant for children and young people, should be the theme of the fourth general assembly of the synod of Bishops,3 which was held in October 1977 and which I myself had the joy of taking part in.
Cf. AAS 63 (1971), pp. 758-764.
Cf.44; cf. also 45-48 and 54: AAS 68 (1976), pp. 34-35; 35-38; 43.
According to the Motu Proprio Apostolica Sollicitudo of Sept. 15, 1965, the Synod of Bishops can come together in General Assembly, in extraordinary Assembly or in special assembly. In the present apostolic exhortation the words “synod,” “synod fathers” and “synod hall” always refer, unless otherwise indicated, to the fourth general assembly of the Synod of Bishops on catechesis, held in Rome in October 1977.