All Catholics share in Church’s mission, not just clergy, pope says

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Laypeople are not passive members but active participants in the Church’s mission, called to live and spread the Gospel in everyday life, Pope Leo XIV said.

Continuing his series on the documents of the Second Vatican Council during his weekly general audience, the pope emphasized that all the baptized, not just the clergy, are missionary disciples of Christ.

“For this reason, lay men and women are particularly called to carry Christ’s presence to all  spheres of life and so transform them from within by bearing witness to the beauty of a life in Christ and the elevating power of his grace,” he said April 1 in his address to English-speakers. 

Pope Leo delved into the Dogmatic Constitution “Lumen Gentium,” saying that Vatican II shed light on the dignity of laypeople, after centuries of being defined as “simply as those who are not part of the clergy or the consecrated life.”

“Before any distinction of ministry or state of life, the council affirms the equality of all the baptized,” the pope said.

He said the People of God is not a “formless mass,” but the body of Christ, uniting clergy and laity. By being baptized, the laypeople “participate in the very priesthood of Christ,” he said.

The pope also referenced St. John Paul II and Pope Francis, highlighting their emphasis on the active role of laypeople in the Church’s mission.

He went on to say that the responsibility of laypeople is not confined to the Church, but rather includes the whole world. He said the world must be permeated by the spirit of Christ — something made possible through the “contribution, service and witness” of laypeople.

“Indeed, the Church is present wherever her children profess and bear witness to the Gospel: in the workplace, in civil society and in all human relationships, wherever they, through their choices, show the beauty of Christian life, which foretells here and now the justice and peace that will be accomplished in the Kingdom of God,” he said. 

In his address to Arabic-speakers, the pope continued his calls for prayers for innocent victims of war, following weeks of condemning the ongoing conflicts in the Middle East.

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