“The Holy Spirit is the protagonist of evangelisation” and “joy” is the mark of a true evangeliser. Pope Francis said this off the cuff, in the final part of his catechesis in St. Peter’s Square today. “In Christ the Servant – he explained -, the Ethiopian finally sees his destiny as a man destined to bear fruit. Indeed, every disheartened and marginalised man can find in Jesus the hope of his/her rebirth. The encounter with Philip prompts the Ethiopian to ask for Baptism and profess his faith in the Lord Jesus. A new man emerges from the baptismal waters, a foreigner who is no longer discriminated against but a member of the body of Christ, for having been baptised in Christ, he is clothed in Him and belongs to Him forever”. “After the Ethiopian met the Risen One, having led him to the sources of rebirth – Pope Francis continued -, Philip disappeared, just as Jesus had done with the two disciples of Emmaus. He is snatched away by the Holy Spirit, Who marks the life of the Ethiopian with the ‘sign’ of joy”. “The Holy Spirit – the Pope concluded off the cuff – is the protagonist of evangelisation. And what is the sign that you are an evangeliser?”. “It is joy”, he remarked. Hence the hope “that the Spirit may inspire baptised men and women to proclaim the Gospel and attract others not to themselves, but to Christ”, men and women who “know how to make space for the action of God, and make others free and responsible before the Lord”.