Vatican City, Dec 5, 2004 / 22:00 pm
Receiving bishops from the U.S. completing their ad limina visit on Saturday, Pope John Paul II spoke about the bishop’s role in helping the lay faithful incorporate their role in the Church’s mission, emphasizing the need for lay people to integrate their faith into their everyday professional, political and cultural life, while fully respecting the “legitimate” separation of Church and state.
"Each bishop is called to acknowledge the 'essential and irreplaceable role of the laity in the Church's mission' and to enable them to carry out their proper apostolate, said the Holy Father, quoting "Christifideles Laici," to the 22 bishops from Louisville, Mobile and New Orleans.
He said that “a clear pastoral priority" of each bishop is to help the lay faithful "in understanding and embracing the 'munus regale', the kingly office, they received by their baptism incorporation into Christ."
"Lay men and women," said the Holy Father, "must be encouraged, through sound catechesis and continuing formation, to recognize the distinctive dignity and mission which they have received in Baptism and to embody in all their daily activities an integrated approach to life which finds its inspiration and strength from the Gospel.”