Inculturation “means the intimate transformation of authentic cultural values through their integration in Christianity and the insertion of Christianity in the various human cultures”. Missionary work “must involve a process of inculturation if the Gospel is to take flesh in each people’s culture”. John Paul II said the word “may be a neologism, but it expresses very well one factor of the great mystery of the Incarnation”. It is guided by two principles, “compatibility with the gospel and communion with the universal Church”. Since culture “is a human creation and is therefore marked by sin, it too needs to be ‘healed, ennobled and perfected’”.
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