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The Year of Faith is over, but it's significance remains
From October 11, 2012 - Nov. 24, 2013, the universal Church celebrated the Year of Faith. It was a historic year, marked by the resignation of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, who inaugurated the Year of Faith, and the election of Pope Francis, the first American Pope and the first non-European Pope in over 1,000 years.
Pope Francis presided over the closing of the Year of Faith, which included a Synod of Bishops on the New Evangelization. On November 13, 2013, Pope Francis released the Apostolic Exhortation, The Joy of the Gospel, which represents the main themes of the Synod, as well as the Pope's own priorities for the Church's mission of evangelization.
While the formal activities of the Year of Faith are completed, it continues to be a reminder that we all need to continually renew our Faith through a new encounter with Jesus Christ, day by day. The following is a prayer that Pope Francis asks all Christians to pray each day. The full text of the Exhortation is linked on the left of this page.
“Lord, I have let myself be deceived; in a thousand ways I have shunned your love, yet here I am once more, to renew my covenant with you. I need you. Save me once again, Lord, take me once more into your redeeming embrace”. (EG, no. 3)
Official Logo for the Year of Faith
The logo is composed of a square, bordered field on which a boat, symbolizing the Church, is represented as sailing on a graphically minimal representation of waves. The main mast of the boat is a cross from which sails are displayed in the form of dynamic signs which compose the trigram of Christ (IHS). The background to the sails is a sun which, associated with the trigram, refers also to the Eucharist.