By Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Staff Journalist
A member of the Pontifical Council for the Laity said during a recent interview that the Pope wants Catholics to become more actively involved in the political life of their nations.
Speaking to Rome Reports TV News Agency on Jan. 13, Ana Cristina Villa Betancourt of the Pontifical Council for the Laity said that the increasing number of laws against life and the family show that Catholic politicians are failing to stand up with conviction to promote God’s vision of man.
“I think the Holy Father is responding to what he sees as insufficient lay participation or involvement, a weak or strong sense of identity, or just a lack of participation in regions that are very Catholic but where the presence of Catholics in public life is not strong enough,” Ms. Betancourt said.
Many lay people misunderstand their role both in the world and the Church, she said. A lay person is not only someone who assists the priest but who also leads the Church in society through the family, workplace and/or media.
“Often the laity distort reality saying, ‘Oh, that’s for the Church . . . ‘ as if they were not the Church, as if the Church were just for the ordained or religious. But the Church is us too, and all the problems of the Church are our problems.”
The Pontifical Council for the Laity, of which Ms. Betancourt is a member, is responsible for ensuring that Catholics take an active role in public decision-making. Specifically, she is in charge of promoting women’s involvement in the Christianization of society.
“For the life of the Church, women have always been an asset, a pillar, a bulwark. So this is what I think our role is here: to delve into our wealth of history and draw from these riches wisdom and lessons for facing the challenges that our own era presents.”
This means that the laity can not settle for being “passive” recipients of the generosity of the monks, nuns and priests. The Pontifical Council for the Laity says that the laity must bring God to where religious and priests cannot enter, including parliaments and congresses.
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