The pope\u2019s message at the general audience focused on the \u201ccommunion of the faithful\u201d as taught in the second chapter of Lumen Gentium.<\/p>\n
VATICAN CITY \u2014 Pope Leo XIV on Wednesday called for a rediscovery of the role of the laity in the Church.<\/p>\n
\u201cLet us rekindle in ourselves the awareness of and gratitude for having received the gift of being part of God\u2019s people and also the responsibility that this entails,\u201d Leo urged during the general audience in St. Peter\u2019s Square on March 18.<\/p>\n
In his catechesis, focused on chapter 2 of the constitution Lumen Gentium, one of the fundamental documents of the Second Vatican Council, the pontiff explained that the Church, as \u201cthe communion of the faithful \u2014 which naturally includes the pastors \u2014 cannot err in matters of faith.\u201d<\/p>\n
Leo maintained that the Church possesses a particular capacity to safeguard revealed truth, since it is grounded in \u201cthe supernatural sense of faith of the entire people of God, which is manifested in the consensus\u201d of all the members of the Church.<\/p>\n
From this unity, which the Church\u2019s magisterium safeguards, Leo XIV said: \u201cIt follows that each baptized person is an active agent of evangelization, called to bear consistent witness to Christ in accordance with the prophetic gift which the Lord bestows upon his whole Church.\u201d<\/p>\n
Baptized are \u2018obliged to spread and defend the faith\u2019<\/p>\n
The pontiff recalled that, according to the teaching of Vatican II, the people of God participate in Christ\u2019s mission as priest, prophet, and king. \u201cThis common priesthood of the faithful,\u201d the pope explained, arises from baptism and is strengthened through confirmation.<\/p>\n
Through these sacraments, Christians \u201care more strictly obliged to spread and defend the faith, both by word and by deed, as true witnesses of Christ,\u201d he said, quoting from Lumen Gentium.<\/p>\n
Leo also quoted Pope Francis, to recall that all members of the Church share the same fundamental dignity and \u201ceveryone forms the faithful holy people of God.\u201d<\/p>\n
The \u2018sense of the faith\u2019<\/p>\n
One of the central points of Leo\u2019s catechesis was the explanation of the so-called \u201csensus fidei,\u201d that is, the \u201csense of the faith\u201d and \u201cconsensus of the faithful.\u201d<\/p>\n
The pope noted that the council fathers who participated in the Second Vatican Council taught \u201cthat the holy people of God also participate in the prophetic mission of Christ.\u201d<\/p>\n
The doctrinal commission of the council clarified that this \u201csensus fidei\u201d is \u201ca faculty of the whole Church, by which she, in her faith, recognizes the revelation handed down, distinguishing between true and false in matters of faith, and at the same time penetrates it more deeply and applies it more fully in life.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe sense of faith therefore belongs to individual believers not in their own right but as members of the people of God as a whole,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n
A living Church guided by the Spirit<\/p>\n
The pontiff also emphasized that the Holy Spirit distributes gifts and charisms among all the faithful, contributing to the constant renewal of the Church.<\/p>\n
The Holy Spirit \u201cdistributes special graces among the faithful of every rank. By these gifts he makes them fit and ready to undertake the various tasks and offices which contribute toward the renewal and building up of the Church,\u201d Leo said, quoting from Lumen Gentium and pointing to the charismatic vitality of consecrated life in particular.<\/p>\n
He also highlighted the different forms of ecclesial associations as another \u201cshining example of the variety and fruitfulness of spiritual fruits for the edification of the people of God.\u201d<\/p>\n
This story\u00a0was first published\u00a0by ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.<\/p>\n