Pope Francis says the Church, Religious and Laity, are "united by the one faith in Christ...oriented towards the same mission of proclaiming the merciful love of God the Father."
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TO PARTICIPANTS IN THE CONFERENCE PROMOTED
FROM THE DICASTRY FOR THE LAITY, THE FAMILY AND LIFE
Synod Hall
Saturday, February 18, 2023
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This morning, the Holy Father Francis received in audience, in the Synod Hall in the Vatican, the participants in the international conference for Presidents and Representatives of the Episcopal Commissions for the Lay Faithful, on the theme: “Pastors and lay faithful called to walk together”, organized by the Dicastery for the Laity, Family and Life, taking place from 16 to 18 February.
The following is the Pope’s address to those present at the audience:
Address of the Holy Father
Dear brothers and sisters, good morning and welcome!
I thank Cardinal Farrell and I greet you all, representatives of the Episcopal Commissions for the laity, with the leaders of ecclesial associations and movements, officials of the Dicastery and all those present.
You have come from your countries to reflect on the co-responsibility – co-responsibility – of pastors and lay faithful in the Church. The title of the Conference speaks of a “call” to “walk together”, placing the theme in the broader context of synodality. Indeed, the road that God is indicating to the Church is precisely that of living communion and walking together more intensely and more tangibly. He invites her to overcome ways of acting in autonomy or along parallel lines that never meet: the clergy separated from the laity, consecrated persons separated from the clergy and from the faithful, the intellectual faith of certain élites separated from popular faith, the Roman Curia separated from the particular Churches, bishops separated from priests, the young separated from the elderly, married couples and families involved little in the life of communities, charismatic movements separated from parishes, and so on. This is the most serious temptation at this time. There is still a long way to go before the Church lives as one body, as a true People, united by the one faith in Christ the Saviour, inspired by the same sanctifying Spirit and orientated towards the same mission of proclaiming the merciful love of God the Father.
This latter aspect is decisive: a People united in the mission. And this is the insight we must always cherish: the Church is the holy faithful People of God, as affirmed in Lumen gentium (8 and 12); neither populism nor elitism, it is the holy faithful People of God. This is not learned theoretically, it is understood by living it. Then, it is explained, if possible, but if it is not lived, it cannot be explained. A People united in the mission. Synodality finds its source and its ultimate purpose in the mission: it is born out of the mission and guided towards the mission. Thin of the first Christians, when Jesus sent the Apostles and they all returned happy, as the demons “fled from them”: it was the mission the led to this sense of ecclesiality. Sharing the mission, indeed, brings pastors and lay faithful together, creates a communion of intentions, manifests the complementarity of different charisms and thus inspires in everyone the desire to walk together. We see it in Jesus himself, who surrounded himself from the very beginning with a group of disciples, men and women, and lived out his public ministry with them. But never alone. And when he sent the Twelve to proclaim the Kingdom of God, he sent them “two by two”. We see the same thing in Saint Paul, who always evangelized together with collaborators, including laypeople and married couples. Not alone. And it has been this way in the moments of great renewal and missionary zeal in the history of the Church: pastors and lay faithful together. Not isolated individuals, but a People who evangelizes, the holy faithful People of God!
On this point too, I would like to emphasize that formation must be mission-oriented, not just theory-oriented, otherwise we descend into ideologies. And that is terrible, it is a scourge: ideology in the Church is a scourge. To avoid this, formation must be mission-oriented. It must not be scholastic, limited to theoretical ideas, but also practical. It is born from listening to the kerygma, it is nourished by the Word of God and the Sacraments, it makes one grow in discernment, both personal and communitarian, and immediately involves one in the apostolate and in various forms of witness, sometimes simple, that lead one to be close to others. The lay apostolate is above all witness! Witness of one’s own experience, one’s own history, witness of prayer, witness of service to those in need, witness of closeness to the poor, closeness to the lonely, witness of welcome, especially from families. And this is how one is formed for the mission: by going towards others. It is a formation “in the field”, and at the same time an effective way of spiritual growth.
Since the beginning I have said that I “dream of a missionary Church” (cf. Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium, 27, 32). “I dream of a missionary Church”. And I am reminded of an image from Revelation, when Jesus says: “I stand at the door and knock; if anyone … opens the door, I will come in and eat with him” (Rev 3:20). But today the drama of the Church is that Jesus continues to knock at the door, but from within, so that we will let him out! Very often it ends up being a Church that imprisons, that does not let the Lord out, that holds him as “its own”, whereas the Lord came for the mission and wants us to be missionaries.
This approach gives us the right key to the theme of the co-responsibility of the laity in the Church. In fact, the need to value the laity does not depend on some theological novelty, nor even on functional requirements for the diminishing number of priests; much less does it arise from category claims, to grant 'pay-back' to those who have been sidelined in the past. Rather, it is based on a correct vision of the Church: the Church as the People of God, of which the laity are a full part together with ordained ministers. Ordained ministers are therefore not the masters, they are the servants: the pastors, not the masters.
This horizon gives us the right key to the theme of the co-responsibility of the laity in the Church. In fact, the need to value the laity does not depend on some theological novelty, nor even on functional requirements for the diminishing number of priests; much less does it arise from category claims, to grant “pay-back” to those who have been sidelined in the past. Rather, it is based on a correct vision of the Church: the Church as the People of God, of which the laity are a full part together with ordained ministers. Ordained ministers are therefore not the masters, they are the servants: the pastors, not the masters.
It is a matter of recovering an “integral ecclesiology”, as it was in the early centuries, in which everything is unified by belonging to Christ and by supernatural communion with Him and with our brothers and sisters, overcoming a sociological vision that distinguishes classes and social ranks and that is basically based on the “power” assigned to each category. Emphasis must be placed on unity and not on separation, on distinction. The lay person, rather than as “non-clerical” or “non-religious”, should be considered as baptized person, as a member of God’s holy people, which is the sacrament that opens all doors. The word “layperson” does not appear in the New Testament, which speaks of “believers”, of “disciples”, of “brothers”, of “saints”, terms applied to all: lay faithful and ordained ministers, the People of God on the move.
In this sole People of God, which is the Church, the fundamental element is belonging to Christ. In the moving accounts in the Acts of the martyrs of the first centuries, we often find a simple profession of faith: “I am Christian”, they said, “and therefore I cannot sacrifice to idols”. This is said, for example, by Polycarp, bishop of Smyrna;[1] this is said by Justin and his other companions, laymen.[2] These martyrs do not say “I am a bishop” or “I am a layperson” – “I belong to Catholic Action, I belong to that Marian Congregation, I belong to the Focolari”. No, they just say “I am a Christian”. Even today, in a world that is becoming increasingly secularized, what truly distinguishes us as the People of God is our faith in Christ, not our state of life in itself. We are baptized, Christians, disciples of Jesus. Everything else is secondary. “But, Father, even a priest?” – “Yes, it is secondary” – “Even a bishop?” – “Yes, it is secondary” – “Even a Cardinal?” – “It is secondary”.
Our common belonging to Christ makes us all brothers and sisters. Vatican Council II affirms: “From divine choice the laity have Christ for their brother … They also have for their brothers whose in the sacred ministry who … feed the family of God” (Apostolic Constitution Lumen gentium, 32). Brothers with Christ and brothers with the priests, brothers with all.
And in this unitary vision of the Church, where we are first and foremost baptized Christians, the laity live in the world and at the same part form part of the faithful People of God. The Puebla Document used a happy expression to express this: the laity are men and women “of the Church in the heart of the world” and men and women “of the world in the heart of the Church”.[3] It is true that the laity are called to live their mission primarily in the secular realities in which they are immersed every day, but this does not prevent them from also having the capacities, the charisms and the competences to contribute to the life of the Church: in liturgical animation, in catechesis, and in formation, in the structures of governance, in the administration of goods, in the planning and implementation of pastoral programmes, and so on. Therefore pastors must be formed, ever since the time of the seminary, in daily and ordinary collaboration with the laity, so that living communion becomes a natural way of acting for them, and not an extraordinary and occasional fact. One of the worst things that happens in a pastor is forgetting the People from whom he has come, the lack of memory. To him one can address that oft-repeated word from the Bible, “Remember”, remember from whence you came, from the flock you were removed from so as to return to serve it, remember your roots (cf. 2 Tim 1).
This co-responsibility lived between lay people and pastors permits us to overcome dichotomies, fears and mutual mistrust. It is time for pastors and laypeople to walk together, in every area of the life of the Church, in every part of the world! The lay faithful are not “guests” in the Church, they are at home, and therefore they are called to take care of their own home. The laity, especially women, must be more valued in their skills and their human and spiritual gifts for the life of parishes and dioceses. They can bring the proclamation of the Gospel in their “everyday” language, engaging in various forms of preaching. They can collaborate with priests to form children and young people, to help engaged couples in their preparation for marriage, and to accompany them in their conjugal and family life. They must always be consulted when preparing new pastoral initiatives at every level, local, national and universal. They must be given a voice in the pastoral councils of the particular Churches. They must be present in the offices of the dioceses. They can help in the spiritual accompaniment of other lay people and also contribute in the formation of seminarians and religious. I once heard a question: “Father, can a lay person be a spiritual director?” It is a lay charism! He can be a priest, but the charism is not presbyteral; spiritual accompaniment, if the Lord gives you the spiritual capacity to do so, is a lay charism. And, together with pastors, they must bear Christian witness in secular environments: the world of work, culture, politics, art, social communication.
We could say: lay people and pastors together in the Church, lay people and pastors together in the world.
I am reminded of the last pages of Cardinal de Lubac's book, Méditation sur l'Église, where, in order to say what is the worst thing that can happen to the Church, he says that spiritual worldliness, which translates into clericalism, “would be infinitely more disastrous than any simply moral worldliness”. If you have time, read these last three to four pages of de Lubac's Méditation sur l'Église. He implies, even quoting authors, that clericalism is the ugliest thing that can happen to the Church, even worse than in the days of the concubine Popes. Clericalism must be “banished”. A priest or bishop who slips into this attitude does great harm to the Church. But it is a disease that infects: even worse than a priest or bishop who falls into clericalism are the clericized laity: please, they are a plague in the Church. Let laypeople be laypeople.
Dear friends, with these few points I wanted to indicate an ideal, an inspiration that can help us on our way. I would like us all to have in our hearts and minds this beautiful vision of the Church: a Church committed to mission and where forces are united and where we walk together to evangelize; a Church where what binds us is our being baptized Christians, our belonging to Jesus; a Church where lay people and pastors live a true brotherhood, working side by side every day, in every area of pastoral work, because they are all baptized people.
I urge you to be promoters in your Churches of what you have received in these days, to continue together the renewal of the Church and her missionary conversion. I wholeheartedly bless you and your loved ones, and I ask you, please, to pray for me. Thank you.
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[1] Cf Eusebius of Caesarea, Ecclesiastical History, IV, 15,1-43.
[2] Cfr Acts of the Martydom of Saint Justin and his companion saints, chapters 1-5; PG 6, 1366-1371.
[3] III General Conference of the Latin American Episcopate, Final Document, Puebla 1979, no. 786.
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