Pope Benedict continues to use every modern tool he can to spread The Word. The pope who sent text messages at World Youth Day is now using another tool for the New Evangelization:

In preparation for Christmas, Pope Benedict XVI asked Rome university students to read and meditate on St. Paul’s Letter to the Romans and he gave a dozen students a multimedia copy of the biblical text on DVD.

Meeting the students Dec. 11 in St. Peter’s Basilica after they had attended Mass, the pope asked them to let the text challenge their way of thinking and believing and, especially, their way of living.

“Only in this way will the faith you profess become credible to others who will be conquered by the eloquent witness of the facts,” the pope said.

St. Paul’s letter, although written about 1,950 years ago, “is and remains principally a living message for the living church,” Pope Benedict said.

“Let Paul speak to you, Christian professors and students of Rome today, and he will make you participants in something he experienced for himself, which is that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes,” he said.

As St. Paul traveled throughout the Mediterranean preaching salvation in Christ, he came to see the power of the Gospel “to tear down the wall of separation that existed between Jews and pagans,” the pope said.

The Gospel has maintained its power “to break down other walls that keep being erected in every context and in every age” by offering all people the possibility of salvation through belief in the death and resurrection of Jesus, he said.

Salvation is an offer, not an imposition, the pope told the students.

“It is a gift that needs to be accepted personally,” he said.

Photo: The pope blesses a university student at St. Peter’s on December 11. From Reuters/CNS