At 11:30 this morning, in the Sala Clementina at the Vatican Apostolic Palace, the Holy Father, Pope Francis received in audience those who have been participating in the Plenary Assembly of the Pontifical Council for the Laity, whose meeting has focused on the theme: Encountering God in the heart of the city.
After a word of welcome presented by the President of the Pontifical Council for the Laity, Cardinal Stanisław Ryłko, the Pope addressed the following speech to those who were present.
Dear brothers and sisters,
I joyfully greet the Pontifical Council for the Laity, who are meeting in their Plenary Assembly, and thank the Cardinal President for the words he addressed to me.
The time since your last Plenary has been for you a period of activity and fulfillment of apostolic initiatives. In this you have adopted the Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii gaudium as a programmatic text and as a compass to direct your reflections and your actions. The year which began recently will mark an important anniversary: the 50th anniversary of the closing of the Second Vatican Council. In this regard, I know that you are appropriately preparing a commemorative act in publishing the Decree on the lay apostolate Apostolicam actuositatem. I encourage this initiative, which does not only look at the past, but the present and the future of the Church.
The theme you have chosen for this Plenary Assembly, Encountering God in the heart of the city, follows the path of the invitation of Evangelii gaudium to enter into the challenge of the urban cultures (EG, 71-75). The phenomenon of urbanization has now assumed a global dimension: more than half of the men and women of the planet live in cities. And the urban context has a strong impact on the mentality, culture, lifestyles, interpersonal relations, and the religiosity of people. In this context, so different and complex, the Church is no longer the only promoter of sense and Christians are absorbing the languages, symbols, messages and paradigms that offer new approaches to life, often at odds with the Gospel (EG, 73). The cities present great opportunities and great risks: they can be magnificent spaces of freedom and human fulfillment, but terrible spaces of dehumanization and of unhappiness. It seems that every city, even ones that appear more prosperous and ordered, have the capacity for generating within themselves dark anti-cities. It seems that along with citizens there are also non-citizens: invisible people, poor of means and human warmth; that live in non-places, living non-relationships. These are individuals who no one looks at, gives them attention, or has an interest in.
But in the face of this sad scenario we should always remind ourselves that God has not abandoned the city. The theme of your Plenary wants to precisely underline that it is possible to meet God in the heart of the city. This is very beautiful. Yes, God continues to be present even in our cities that are frantic and distracted! And so it is necessary to never abandon one’s self to pessimism and defeatism, but to have a gaze of faith on the cities, a contemplative gaze which sees God dwelling in their homes, in their streets and squares (EG, 71). And God is never absent from the city because He is never absent from the heart of man! In fact, God’s presence accompanies the sincere efforts of individuals and groups to find encouragement and meaning in their lives (EG, 71). The Church wants to be at the service of this sincere search that is in so many hearts and that makes them open to God. The lay faithful, above all, are called to go out without fear to meet the men and women in the city: in daily activities, at work, as single people or as families, together with the parish or in ecclesial movements they belong to, and break down the walls of anonymity and indifference that often reign in the city. It is about finding the courage to take the first step of approaching others, to be apostles of the neighbourhood.
By becoming joyful announcers of the Gospel to their fellow citizens, the lay faithful discover that there are many hearts that the Holy Spirit has already prepared to receive their witness, their closeness and their attention. In the city there is often more fertile ground of apostolate than what many imagine. It is important therefore to care for the formation of the laity: to educate them to have that gaze of faith, full of hope that knows how to see the city with the eyes of God, to encourage people to live the Gospel, knowing that every life lived in a Christian way always has a strong social impact. At the same time, it is necessary to nourish in people the desire of witness, so that they can give the gift of faith they have received to others with love, accompanying their brothers and sisters with affection as they take the first steps in the life of faith. In one word: the laity are called to live humble leadership in the Church and to become leaven for Christian life for the whole city.
It is important that, in this renewed missionary impulse towards the city, the lay faithful, in communion with their pastors, are able to contribute the heart of the Gospel, not their appendices. Even the then Archbishop Montini, addressing the people involved in the great citizen mission of Milan, spoke of the search for the essential, and invited us to be essentials, that is, true, genuine, and able to live from that which truly counts (cf Discorsi e scritti milanesi 1954-1963, Istituto Paolo VI, Brescia-Roma, 1997-1998, p. 1483). Only then can the liberating message of the love of God and the salvation that Christ offers be proposed in its strength, beauty and simplicity.
I entrust your work and your projects to the maternal protection of the Virgin Mary, a pilgrim together with Her Son in the proclamation of the Gospel, from village to village, from city to city, and I wholeheartedly impart to all of you and your loved ones my Blessing. Do not forget, please, to pray for me.
After a word of welcome presented by the President of the Pontifical Council for the Laity, Cardinal Stanisław Ryłko, the Pope addressed the following speech to those who were present.
Speech of the Holy Father, Pope Francis
for the meeting with members of the
Pontifical Council for the Laity
Dear brothers and sisters,
I joyfully greet the Pontifical Council for the Laity, who are meeting in their Plenary Assembly, and thank the Cardinal President for the words he addressed to me.
The time since your last Plenary has been for you a period of activity and fulfillment of apostolic initiatives. In this you have adopted the Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii gaudium as a programmatic text and as a compass to direct your reflections and your actions. The year which began recently will mark an important anniversary: the 50th anniversary of the closing of the Second Vatican Council. In this regard, I know that you are appropriately preparing a commemorative act in publishing the Decree on the lay apostolate Apostolicam actuositatem. I encourage this initiative, which does not only look at the past, but the present and the future of the Church.
The theme you have chosen for this Plenary Assembly, Encountering God in the heart of the city, follows the path of the invitation of Evangelii gaudium to enter into the challenge of the urban cultures (EG, 71-75). The phenomenon of urbanization has now assumed a global dimension: more than half of the men and women of the planet live in cities. And the urban context has a strong impact on the mentality, culture, lifestyles, interpersonal relations, and the religiosity of people. In this context, so different and complex, the Church is no longer the only promoter of sense and Christians are absorbing the languages, symbols, messages and paradigms that offer new approaches to life, often at odds with the Gospel (EG, 73). The cities present great opportunities and great risks: they can be magnificent spaces of freedom and human fulfillment, but terrible spaces of dehumanization and of unhappiness. It seems that every city, even ones that appear more prosperous and ordered, have the capacity for generating within themselves dark anti-cities. It seems that along with citizens there are also non-citizens: invisible people, poor of means and human warmth; that live in non-places, living non-relationships. These are individuals who no one looks at, gives them attention, or has an interest in.
But in the face of this sad scenario we should always remind ourselves that God has not abandoned the city. The theme of your Plenary wants to precisely underline that it is possible to meet God in the heart of the city. This is very beautiful. Yes, God continues to be present even in our cities that are frantic and distracted! And so it is necessary to never abandon one’s self to pessimism and defeatism, but to have a gaze of faith on the cities, a contemplative gaze which sees God dwelling in their homes, in their streets and squares (EG, 71). And God is never absent from the city because He is never absent from the heart of man! In fact, God’s presence accompanies the sincere efforts of individuals and groups to find encouragement and meaning in their lives (EG, 71). The Church wants to be at the service of this sincere search that is in so many hearts and that makes them open to God. The lay faithful, above all, are called to go out without fear to meet the men and women in the city: in daily activities, at work, as single people or as families, together with the parish or in ecclesial movements they belong to, and break down the walls of anonymity and indifference that often reign in the city. It is about finding the courage to take the first step of approaching others, to be apostles of the neighbourhood.
By becoming joyful announcers of the Gospel to their fellow citizens, the lay faithful discover that there are many hearts that the Holy Spirit has already prepared to receive their witness, their closeness and their attention. In the city there is often more fertile ground of apostolate than what many imagine. It is important therefore to care for the formation of the laity: to educate them to have that gaze of faith, full of hope that knows how to see the city with the eyes of God, to encourage people to live the Gospel, knowing that every life lived in a Christian way always has a strong social impact. At the same time, it is necessary to nourish in people the desire of witness, so that they can give the gift of faith they have received to others with love, accompanying their brothers and sisters with affection as they take the first steps in the life of faith. In one word: the laity are called to live humble leadership in the Church and to become leaven for Christian life for the whole city.
It is important that, in this renewed missionary impulse towards the city, the lay faithful, in communion with their pastors, are able to contribute the heart of the Gospel, not their appendices. Even the then Archbishop Montini, addressing the people involved in the great citizen mission of Milan, spoke of the search for the essential, and invited us to be essentials, that is, true, genuine, and able to live from that which truly counts (cf Discorsi e scritti milanesi 1954-1963, Istituto Paolo VI, Brescia-Roma, 1997-1998, p. 1483). Only then can the liberating message of the love of God and the salvation that Christ offers be proposed in its strength, beauty and simplicity.
I entrust your work and your projects to the maternal protection of the Virgin Mary, a pilgrim together with Her Son in the proclamation of the Gospel, from village to village, from city to city, and I wholeheartedly impart to all of you and your loved ones my Blessing. Do not forget, please, to pray for me.
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