
“I would like to propose to you, as a reference horizon for your near future, a binomial that could be formulated like this: ‘outgoing Church – outgoing laity’”: this binomial is the “horizon of reference for your near future”. Pope Francis said this today as he received in audience the members of the Pontifical Council for the Laity, to whom he revealed some of the guidelines of the reform project of the Curia concerning them. “May you too – Pope Francis told them – raise up your eyes and look ‘out’ to the many people who are ‘far away’ in our world, to the many families in difficult situations and in need of mercy, to the many unexplored areas of apostolate, and to the many lay people with a good and generous heart who would be eager to devote their energy, time and skills to the service of the Gospel, if only they were involved, appreciated and accompanied, with affection and dedication, by pastors and Church institutions”. “We need well-formed lay persons, moved by a genuine and transparent faith, whose lives have been touched by the personal and mysterious encounter with the love of Jesus Christ”, Pope Francis said. “At this particular time in history – Pope Francis continued -, in the context of the Jubilee of Mercy, the Church is called to gain greater awareness of the fact that she is the house of the Father where there is a place for everyone, with all their problems; a Church that is permanently outbound, an evangelising community that, without fear, takes the initiative to reach out, seek out those who are far away, and go out onto the streets to invite the excluded”.