At 12:30pm today, in the Sala Clementina at the Apostolic Palace, the Holy Father, Pope Francis received in audience those who are participating in the 28th Plenary Assembly of the Pontifical Council for the Laity. The theme of this year's gathering is A dicastery for the laity: between history and future ... The meeting is taking place from 16-18 June 2016.
Dear brothers and sisters,
I don't want these words to be considered as a valedictory address to the Dicastery, as though they were parting words, but rather that they should be considered as words of gratitude for all the work you have done.
I welcome you on the occasion of your Plenary Assembly; I greet you all cordially and I thank your Cardinal President for his courteous words. This meeting has a very special character since, as I have already had occasion to announce, your Pontifical Council will soon take on a new look. This is therefore the conclusion of an important chapter and the opening of a new one for the Dicastery within the Roman Curia that has accompanied the life, the growth and the transformation of the Catholic Laity from the time of the Second Vatican Council until today.
Therefore, this occasion is propitious for addressing and looking back over the past 50 years of the various activities accomplished by this Dicastery, and at the same time, to project a renewed presence to serving the laity, who are constantly in turmoil and challenged by new problems. The Pontifical Council for the Laity was born by the express will of the Second Vatican Council which, in its Decree on the Apostolate of the Laity, wanted to establish within the Holy See a special secretariat for serving and promoting the laity, in order to assist with its counsel, the hierarchy and the laity in their apostolic work (Apostolicam actuositatem, 26). Therefore, Blessed Paul VI gave rise to this Dicastery, which did not hesitate to define one of the best fruits of the Second Vatican Council (Motu proprio, Apostolatus peragendi, 10 December 1976, 697) - and he was the father of FUCI, of youth, of laity; he had worked so much and believed so ardently in this - conceiving of this fruit - not a controlling body but as a centre of coordination, study, consultation, aimed at encouraging lay people to take part in the mission of the Church ... either as members of associations ... or as individual faithful (AP, 697). The reason for this Pontifical Council is to incite!
Therefore, let us thank the Lord for the abundant fruit and for the numerous challenges we have faced over these past years. We can recall, for example, the new era which, along with lay associations of long and worthy history, also say the emergence of many other movements and new communities of great missionary zeal; movements you followed as they developed, accompanied with care and assisted in the delicate phase of the legal recognition of their statutes. And then, the appearance of new lay ministries, which have been entrusted with more than a few apostolic activities. In addition, I should point out the growing role of women in the Church, with their presence, their sensitivity and their gifts. And finally the creation of the World Youth Days, a providential gesture on the part of Saint John Paul II, an instrument of evangelization for the new generations which you have cared for with particular attention.
For this reason, we can say that the mandate that was received by the Council was truly that of inspiring the lay faithful to share in more committed and better ways in the evangelizing mission of the Church, not as a mandate from the hierarchy, but because their apostolate is to participate in the saving mission of the Church, with which we are all entrusted by the Lord through our baptism and confirmation (Dogmatic Constitution, Lumen Gentium, 33). And this is the entry door! We enter into the Church through Baptism, not through priestly or episcopal Ordination, we enter through Baptism! We have all entered by the same door. It is Baptism that makes every member of the faithful one of the Lord's missionaries, salt of the earth, light of the world, leaven that transforms reality from within.
The activities of the Church, like those we have already mentioned, increasingly turn to the faces, minds and hearts of concrete people. It is important that in your Plenary, you remember all those who have given of themselves with passion and commitment to the animation, promotion and coordination of the life and apostolate of the laity in past years. Above all, the various Presidents who have been involved; then the many Members and Consultors, among which was the same Karol Wojtyła, who followed the development of this Dicastery with great interest and foresight from its earliest days; and then the many lay people who have worked with generosity and competence, and many others who worked in silence to favour the Catholic laity.
In light of the path that has been taken, it is time to once again look with hope toward the future. Much still remains to be done to widen the horizons and to gather the new challenges that reality presents. These realities give birth to the work of reforming the Curia, especially the amalgamation of your Dicastery with the Pontifical Council for the Family in connection with the Academy for Life. I invite you to welcome this reform, which will involve you, as a sign of appreciation and esteem for the work you do, and as a sign of renewed trust in the vocation and mission of the laity in the Church of our time. The new Dicastery which will be born will have as its rudder to help with its navigation, on one hand the post-synodal Apostolic Exhortation Christifideles laici and on the other, the Apostolic Exhortations Evangelii Gaudium and Amoris Laetitia, having as its privileged fields of work: the family and the defence of life.
At this particular moment in history, and in the context of the Jubilee of Mercy, the Church is called to be ever more conscious of being the paternal house where there is room for everyone with the trials of his life and his sins (Apostolic Exhortation, Evangelii Gaudium, 47); of being a Church that is constantly going out, an evangelizing community ... that knows how to fearlessly take the initiative, to go out in order to encounter, in search of those who are distanced and going out into the street corners to invite those who have been excluded (EG, 24). I would like to offer as a point of reference for your immediate future, a combination that could be explained as: A Church that goes out - laity going out. You too, therefore, raise your eyes and look outward, look toward the many in our world who have been distanced, toward the many families who are in difficulty and in need of mercy, to the many unexplored places of apostolate, to the numerous laity with good and generous hearts who voluntarily place their energies, their time, their efforts at the service of the gospel as long as they are involved, valued and accompanied with affection and dedication on the part of pastors and ecclesiastical institutions. We need well-formed laity, motivated by sincere and limpid faith, whose lives have been touched and encountered personally and mercifully by the love of Christ Jesus. We need lay people who are ready to dirty their hands, who are not afraid to make mistakes, who are willing to go on ahead. We need lay people with a vision of the future, not closed in upon the small things in life. I told these things to the young people: we need lay people who know the flavour of experiencing life, who dare to dream. Today is the moment when the youth need the dreams of the elderly. In this disposable culture, we must not discard the elderly! Encourage them, encourage them to dream and - as the prophet Joel says - they dreamt, the capacity to dream, and to give all of us the strength of new apostolic visions.
I thank you all, dear brothers, Members and Consultors, for your work in service to this Dicastery, and I encourage you to open your hearts with docility and humility to the newness of God, which surprises and surpasses us, but which never disappoints us, like Mary, our mother and our teacher in faith did. With all my heart, I impart my blessing upon all of you and upon those who are precious to you. And please, don't forget to pray for me.
Speech of the Holy Father, Pope Francis
addressed to the members of the
Pontifical Council for the Laity
Dear brothers and sisters,
I don't want these words to be considered as a valedictory address to the Dicastery, as though they were parting words, but rather that they should be considered as words of gratitude for all the work you have done.
I welcome you on the occasion of your Plenary Assembly; I greet you all cordially and I thank your Cardinal President for his courteous words. This meeting has a very special character since, as I have already had occasion to announce, your Pontifical Council will soon take on a new look. This is therefore the conclusion of an important chapter and the opening of a new one for the Dicastery within the Roman Curia that has accompanied the life, the growth and the transformation of the Catholic Laity from the time of the Second Vatican Council until today.
Therefore, this occasion is propitious for addressing and looking back over the past 50 years of the various activities accomplished by this Dicastery, and at the same time, to project a renewed presence to serving the laity, who are constantly in turmoil and challenged by new problems. The Pontifical Council for the Laity was born by the express will of the Second Vatican Council which, in its Decree on the Apostolate of the Laity, wanted to establish within the Holy See a special secretariat for serving and promoting the laity, in order to assist with its counsel, the hierarchy and the laity in their apostolic work (Apostolicam actuositatem, 26). Therefore, Blessed Paul VI gave rise to this Dicastery, which did not hesitate to define one of the best fruits of the Second Vatican Council (Motu proprio, Apostolatus peragendi, 10 December 1976, 697) - and he was the father of FUCI, of youth, of laity; he had worked so much and believed so ardently in this - conceiving of this fruit - not a controlling body but as a centre of coordination, study, consultation, aimed at encouraging lay people to take part in the mission of the Church ... either as members of associations ... or as individual faithful (AP, 697). The reason for this Pontifical Council is to incite!
Therefore, let us thank the Lord for the abundant fruit and for the numerous challenges we have faced over these past years. We can recall, for example, the new era which, along with lay associations of long and worthy history, also say the emergence of many other movements and new communities of great missionary zeal; movements you followed as they developed, accompanied with care and assisted in the delicate phase of the legal recognition of their statutes. And then, the appearance of new lay ministries, which have been entrusted with more than a few apostolic activities. In addition, I should point out the growing role of women in the Church, with their presence, their sensitivity and their gifts. And finally the creation of the World Youth Days, a providential gesture on the part of Saint John Paul II, an instrument of evangelization for the new generations which you have cared for with particular attention.
For this reason, we can say that the mandate that was received by the Council was truly that of inspiring the lay faithful to share in more committed and better ways in the evangelizing mission of the Church, not as a mandate from the hierarchy, but because their apostolate is to participate in the saving mission of the Church, with which we are all entrusted by the Lord through our baptism and confirmation (Dogmatic Constitution, Lumen Gentium, 33). And this is the entry door! We enter into the Church through Baptism, not through priestly or episcopal Ordination, we enter through Baptism! We have all entered by the same door. It is Baptism that makes every member of the faithful one of the Lord's missionaries, salt of the earth, light of the world, leaven that transforms reality from within.
The activities of the Church, like those we have already mentioned, increasingly turn to the faces, minds and hearts of concrete people. It is important that in your Plenary, you remember all those who have given of themselves with passion and commitment to the animation, promotion and coordination of the life and apostolate of the laity in past years. Above all, the various Presidents who have been involved; then the many Members and Consultors, among which was the same Karol Wojtyła, who followed the development of this Dicastery with great interest and foresight from its earliest days; and then the many lay people who have worked with generosity and competence, and many others who worked in silence to favour the Catholic laity.
In light of the path that has been taken, it is time to once again look with hope toward the future. Much still remains to be done to widen the horizons and to gather the new challenges that reality presents. These realities give birth to the work of reforming the Curia, especially the amalgamation of your Dicastery with the Pontifical Council for the Family in connection with the Academy for Life. I invite you to welcome this reform, which will involve you, as a sign of appreciation and esteem for the work you do, and as a sign of renewed trust in the vocation and mission of the laity in the Church of our time. The new Dicastery which will be born will have as its rudder to help with its navigation, on one hand the post-synodal Apostolic Exhortation Christifideles laici and on the other, the Apostolic Exhortations Evangelii Gaudium and Amoris Laetitia, having as its privileged fields of work: the family and the defence of life.
At this particular moment in history, and in the context of the Jubilee of Mercy, the Church is called to be ever more conscious of being the paternal house where there is room for everyone with the trials of his life and his sins (Apostolic Exhortation, Evangelii Gaudium, 47); of being a Church that is constantly going out, an evangelizing community ... that knows how to fearlessly take the initiative, to go out in order to encounter, in search of those who are distanced and going out into the street corners to invite those who have been excluded (EG, 24). I would like to offer as a point of reference for your immediate future, a combination that could be explained as: A Church that goes out - laity going out. You too, therefore, raise your eyes and look outward, look toward the many in our world who have been distanced, toward the many families who are in difficulty and in need of mercy, to the many unexplored places of apostolate, to the numerous laity with good and generous hearts who voluntarily place their energies, their time, their efforts at the service of the gospel as long as they are involved, valued and accompanied with affection and dedication on the part of pastors and ecclesiastical institutions. We need well-formed laity, motivated by sincere and limpid faith, whose lives have been touched and encountered personally and mercifully by the love of Christ Jesus. We need lay people who are ready to dirty their hands, who are not afraid to make mistakes, who are willing to go on ahead. We need lay people with a vision of the future, not closed in upon the small things in life. I told these things to the young people: we need lay people who know the flavour of experiencing life, who dare to dream. Today is the moment when the youth need the dreams of the elderly. In this disposable culture, we must not discard the elderly! Encourage them, encourage them to dream and - as the prophet Joel says - they dreamt, the capacity to dream, and to give all of us the strength of new apostolic visions.
I thank you all, dear brothers, Members and Consultors, for your work in service to this Dicastery, and I encourage you to open your hearts with docility and humility to the newness of God, which surprises and surpasses us, but which never disappoints us, like Mary, our mother and our teacher in faith did. With all my heart, I impart my blessing upon all of you and upon those who are precious to you. And please, don't forget to pray for me.
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