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To be evangelical is to share the “Good News” of Jesus Christ with the whole world. In his 2013 apostolic exhortation Evangelii Gaudium (The Joy of the Gospel [EG]), Pope Francis reminds the faithful that the Great Commission “to make disciples of all nations” is part of the Church’s DNA:
Evangelization takes place in obedience to the missionary mandate of Jesus: “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you” (Matt. 28:19-20). In these verses we see how the risen Christ sent his followers to preach the Gospel in every time and place, so that faith in him might spread to every corner of the earth (EG 19).
Pope Francis elaborates further on this fundamental Scripture passage in EG 113, 120, 160 and 162), emphasizing that “in virtue of their baptism, all the members of the People of God have become missionary disciples” (cf. Matt. 28:19) [EG 120].” “The joy of the gospel,” he adds, “fills the hearts and lives of all who encounter Jesus” [EG 1]
The pontiff also affirms the words of Pope St. Paul VI, who in his 1975 apostolic exhortation Evangelii Nuntiandi (Proclaiming the Gospel [EN]) noted we must back up our words with our witness: “Modern man listens more willingly to witnesses than to teachers, and if he does listen to teachers, it is because they are witnesses” (EN 41).