“Paul chooses the gaze that drives him to open up a passage between the Gospel and the pagan world”. Pope Francis said this in his general audience catechesis today, noting that “in the heart of one of the most celebrated institutions of the ancient world, the Areopagus, he offers an extraordinary example of inculturation of the message of faith: he proclaims Jesus Christ to the worshippers of idols, and does not do so by attacking them, but by making himself a ‘pontiff, a builder of bridges’”. Pope Francis went on to explain the dynamics of the inculturation enacted by the Apostle: “Paul takes his cue from the altar of the city dedicated to ‘the unknown god’ – that is, an altar with the inscription ‘to the unknown god’, no image, nothing, just that inscription. And starting out from that ‘devotion’, to enter into empathy with his listeners, he proclaims that ‘God dwells among the citizens’ and ‘does not hide Himself from those who seek Him with a sincere heart, even though they do so tentatively’. It is precisely this presence that Paul seeks to reveal:  ‘What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you’”.