Laity are called to evangelize, Pope says in message

November 12, 2015

In a message for the 50^th anniversary of the Second Vatican Council’s Decree on the Lay Apostolate, Pope Francis reflected on the vocation and mission of the lay faithful.

In his message, dated October 22 and released on November 12, the Pope said that the Second Vatican Council did not “regard the laity as if they were members of ‘second order,’ serving the hierarchy and simply carrying out orders from above, but as disciples of Christ who, by virtue of their baptism and their natural inclusion ‘the world,’ are called to animate every environment, every activity, every human relationship according to the spirit of the Gospel.”

Citing the decree, Pope Francis said that “the Christian vocation by its very nature is also a vocation to the apostolate” and that the lay faithful are called “not only to the Christian animation of temporal reality but also to works of explicit evangelization.”

 

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Further information:

• Messaggio del Santo Padre al Presidente del Pontificio Consiglio per i Laici, in occasione del 50.mo anniversario del Decreto “Apostolicam actuositatem”, 12.11.2015 (Holy See Press Office)
• Pope Francis message on Laity Vocation (Vatican Radio)
• Decree on the Apostolate of the Laity (Apostolicam Actuositatem)