[2] Evangelii gaudium touches on many of the themes of Francis' papacy, including obligations Christians have to the poor and the duty to establish and maintain just economic, political, and legal orders.

"[5] Calling for an "ecclesial renewal which cannot be deferred",[6] Francis is critical of the over-centralization of church bureaucracy, unthinking preaching, and excessive emphasis on doctrine.

"[7] In regard to what he perceives is a current negative dependence on over-centralization in the Church's structure as opposed to an open and missionary spirit flowing through every level, he writes, "I too must think about a conversion of the papacy.

Issued on the Feast of Christ the King, it brought to a conclusion the Year of Faith declared by Pope Benedict XVI which commenced on October 11, 2012.

In May 2007, at the Fifth Episcopal Conference of Latin America in Aparecida, Brazil, Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio, later Pope Francis was elected by his brother bishops to chair the important committee charged with drafting the final document.

The second section, Temptations faced by pastoral workers, describes two errors commonly faced by Christians: first the "attraction of Gnosticism" that offers "a faith whose only interest is a certain experience or a set of ideas and bits of information"; the second is "the self-absorbed promethean neopelagianism" of those who "feel superior to others because they observe certain rules or remain intransigently faithful to a particular Catholic style from the past" with "a narcissistic and authoritarian elitism".

Francis' observation that "we can feel the desertification of the soil almost as a physical ailment, and the extinction of a species as a painful disfigurement",[23] is reiterated in his later encyclical letter Laudato si' .

[24] In paragraph 247 he affirms that "As Christians, we cannot consider Judaism as a foreign religion; nor do we include the Jews among those called to turn from idols and to serve the true God (cf.

[25] The last part of the exhortation deals with the personal relationship with Christ and the imitation of the Virgin Mary as an icon of joy and missionary activity.

Pat Perriello, associate professor at Johns Hopkins University, calls the document "truly remarkable", representing "a bold new vision for the church.

[32] On behalf of the Diocese of Limburg, Peter Reulein wrote the music for the oratorio Laudato si' - a Franciscan Magnificat to the libretto by Helmut Schlegel OFM.

[33] This work is based on the Latin version of the Magnificat, corresponds to the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy, and includes texts from the apostolic exhortation Evangelii gaudium and the encyclical Laudato si'.