Pope urges laity to look "outside", to those who are distant, to families in need, to unexplored areas

Receiving the Pontifical Council for the Laity, Francis speaks of the reform of the Curia, and indicates the fields in which they can act. "We need well-trained lay people, animated by a sincere and limpid faith, whose life has been touched by the personal and merciful encounter with the love of Christ Jesus."

 

Vatican City (AsiaNews) – “Outward bound” lay Catholics who look "outside", "to the many 'distant' people of our world, to the many families in trouble and in need of mercy, to the many fields of apostolate that are still unexplored, to the numerous good and generous lay people who spend their energies gladly at the service of the Gospel ". This is the goal that the Pope proposes to the laity in the ahead of the amalgamation that he is enacting between the Pontifical Council for the Laity with the Pontifical Council for the Family in connection with the Academy for Life.

Francis himself, indicated as much to participants in the plenary assembly of the dicastery, currently underway on the theme "A dicastery for the laity: Its history and future ..." (16-18 June 2016).

Francis said that the Council for the Laity was expressly wanted by Vatican II and Paul VI instituted it "not as the controlling body but as a center of coordination, study, consultation, aimed to" incite the laity to take part in the life and mission of the Church. "

"So thank the Lord - said the Pope - for the abundant fruits and the many challenges of those years. We may recall, for example, the new era that alongside the lay associations of long and worthy history, has seen the rise of many movements and new communities of great missionary zeal; movements you have followed in their development ,and which you  with care have assisted in the delicate phase of the legal recognition of their statutes. And then the appearance of new lay ministries, to which more than a few apostolic activities have been entrusted. In addition, we must emphasize the growing role of women in the Church, with their presence, sensitivity and gifts. And finally the creation of the World Youth Days, the providential gesture of St. John Paul II, an instrument of evangelization of the new generations which you take great effort in caring for".

"In light of this path taken, it is time to once again look with hope to the future. Much remains to be done by widening the horizons and gathering new challenges that the current reality presents. It is from here that the project of reform of the Curia was born, in particular, 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 see you involved, as a sign of appreciation and esteem for the work you do, and as a sign of renewed confidence in the vocation and mission of the laity in the Church today. The new Dicastery will have as its  'helm' to continue its navigation, on the one hand Christifideles laici and the other the Evangelii Gaudium and Amoris laetitia, having as privileged fields of work the family and the defense of life".

"At this particular moment in history, and in the context of the Jubilee of Mercy, the Church is called to become ever more conscious of being" the Father's house where there is room for everyone with his or her hard life "(ibid., N. Evangelii gaudium , 47); to be a Church which “goes forth”, "evangelizing communities [...]  that knows how to boldly take the initiative, go out to others, seek those who have fallen away, stand at the crossroads and welcome the outcast." (ibid., 24). I would like to offer as a point of reference for your immediate future, a combination that could be formulated thus: 'A Church going forth – laity going forth'. You too, then, look up and look 'outside', to the many 'distant people’ of our world, to the many families in trouble and in need of mercy, to the many unexplored apostolate, to the many lay people of good and generous heart that willingly put their energy, their time, their skills at the service of the Gospel if they are involved, valued and accompanied with affection and dedication by pastors and church institutions. We need well-trained lay people, animated by a sincere and limpid faith, whose life has been touched by their personal and merciful encounter with the love of Christ Jesus. " "Today - he concluded - is the time when young people need the dreams of the elderly", to have "the ability to dream," and that will give us "the power of the new apostolic visions".

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