Faith and Religion in a Secular Society

Faith and Religion in a Secular Society makes the same bet as Pope Francis that, in the face of the phenomena of secularization, religious indifference, and institutional weakening, it is not by preaching about or idealizing a bygone past that Christianity can expect to regain in Europe, because it risks isolating and separating even more than it is from a culture that no longer waits. The salvation of the Church and the safeguarding of her universal mission depend rather on its ability to facilitate a culture of encounter with all those who want to humanize the modern, pluralist, and secular society, while also asserting its freedom of expression. It is this pastoral option that Joseph De Kesel is already experimenting with in deeply secularized Belgium, which, like France, was once a land of Christianity.