In an interview with an Italian journalist, Pope Francis said: "Proselytism is solemn nonsense, it makes no sense." With these words, is the Pope telling us not to evangelize? Well, no. Pope Francis often talks about, and encourages, evangelization. He did so, for example, in his apostolic exhortation The Joy of the Gospel. There must be a difference between proselytism and evangelization, then.

 A document published in 2007 by the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith states that the word "proselytism" has been used as synonymous with missionary activity; but that, more recently, "the term has taken on a negative connotation, to mean the promotion of a religion by using means, and for motives, contrary to the spirit of the Gospel; that is, which do not safeguard the freedom and dignity of the human person."

 The Pope stated in a homily, in May 2013, that the Church "does not grow by means of proselytizing", but "by attraction, by witnessing, by preaching". Evangelization, then, involves preaching as well as other, non-verbal forms of witnessing to one's faith.

What is the goal of our preaching and other forms of witnessing? What is our mission? According to the definition of "proselytism" presented above, the goal would be to promote a religion – to attract converts to a religion. And attracting converts is not a bad thing. The Pope implies as much in the homily mentioned above, where he talks about the Church growing.

However, note also a broader definition of mission presented in The Joy of the Gospel. There Francis writes about the "mission of bringing light, blessing, enlivening, raising up, healing and freeing."

 Now, our mission of bringing light, of helping to transform the world, is very much connected to our Christian faith. The gift of God's grace through Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit inspires us to enliven, to raise up, to heal in various ways. Furthermore, this gift has transformed our lives, and inspires us to share with others what Christ has done for us. As the Pope states, we evangelize because "we have a treasure of life and love which cannot deceive."

 At the same time, we may or may not attract converts to the faith when we evangelize. Indeed, we might not be able to identify the results of our interactions and work in the world. Thus the Pope also talks, in The Joy of the Gospel, about being "mysteriously fruitful". We do what we can, where we can. We can pray that we might be God's instruments, that God might be fruitful through us.