ROME — Pope Francis closed out the holiday season Wednesday by calling Catholicism to a new sense of missionary hustle, urging the Church to reach out to all the peoples of the world and insisting that “mission is her vocation.”

“To proclaim the Gospel of Christ is not simply one option among many,” the pope said, “nor is it a profession.” Instead, Francis said, it’s the “very nature” of the Church.

“There is no other way,” he said.

To accomplish that goal, the pope said, requires Christians “to go forth, to leave behind all that keeps us self-enclosed, to go out from ourselves and to recognize the splendor of the light which illumines our lives.”

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