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Rome -- The lay faithful: reality and perspective

On April 7-8, a conference was held in Rome on “The lay faithful: reality and perspective,” organized by the School of Canon Law at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross.

The president of the organizing committee, Professor Fr. Luis Navarro, explained that “the Second Vatican Council clearly highlighted the role of the laity, as faithful immersed in secular reality and called to holiness and to share closely in the Church’s mission to bring life to the world.” Professor Navarro said that “a well-formed laity aware of its duties towards society is a light for the world.”

Presiding over the sessions was Cardinal Stanislaw Rylko, President of the Pontifical Council for the Laity. Those taking part included Archbishop Francesco Coccopalmerio, president of the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts; Professor Giacomo Canobbio from the Theological School of Northern Italy, Milan; Professor Guzman Carriquiry, current undersecretary of the Pontifical Council for the Laity; Professors José Ramón Villar and Maria Blanco, from the University of Navarra, and the sociologist Sergio Belardinelli from the University of Bologna. A round-table discussion was also held each day with representatives from various ecclesial groups (the Neocatechumenal Way, the Charismatic Renewal, the Focolari Movement, and the Community of St. Egidio), and Christian lay people who hold positions of responsibility in public life: journalists, politicians, cultural figures, etc.

Romana, n. 52, January-June 2011, p. 134-135.

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