In the last century, the Church carefully analysed the foundations of the vocation and the mission of the lay faithful in the Church and in the world, gathering a rich harvest from the “promotion of the laity” whose seed was already sown in the nineteenth century. The teachings of the Second Vatican Council gave a strong impulse to the deepening of this theme, offering wisdom that, since then, has become indispensable in the evolution of the theology of the laity. On this page, we indicate the major interventions of Church and Papal Magisterium on this topic.

II Vatican Council Documents

• Dogmatic Constitution on the Church Lumen Gentium, nos. 9-17; 30-38; 39-42
• Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World Gaudium et Spes, no. 43
• Decree on the Apostolate of the Laity Apostolicam Actuositatem

Code of Canon Law, 1983, 224-231, 298-329

Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1992, 871-873, 897-913

Magisterium of Popes

• PIUS XII, Speech to participants at the First World Congress for the Apostolate of the Laity
• PIUS XII, Speech to participants at the Second World Congress for the Apostolate of the Laity
• PAUL VI, Apostolic Letter issued Motuproprio Catholicam Christi Ecclesiam
• PAUL VI, Apostolic Letter Issued Motuproprio Apostolatus Peragendi
• PAUL VI, Homily at Holy Mass on occasion of the Third World Congress for the Apostolate of the Laity (15 October 1967)
• JOHN PAUL II, Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation Christifideles Laici, on the vocation and the mission of the lay faithful in the Church and in the world
• JOHN PAUL II, Apostolic Letter Mulieris Dignitatem
• JOHN PAUL II, Letter to Women, 29 June 1995
• FRANCIS, Letter to Card. Marc Ouellet, President of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America, 19 March 2016  

Other documents

• Instruction on Certain Questions Regarding the Collaboration of the non-Ordained Faithful in the Sacred Ministry of Priest, 15 August 1997
• Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Doctrinal Note on Some Questions Regarding the Participation of Catholics in Political Life, 21 November 2001
• Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Letter to the Bishops of the Catholic Church on the Collaboration of Men and Women in the Church and in the World, 31 May 2004
• Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Letter “Iuvenescit Ecclesia” to the Bishops of the Catholic Church Regarding the Relationship Between Hierarchical and Charismatic Gifts in the Life and the Mission of the Church, 15 May 2016