Vatican City, Nov 13, 2005 / 22:00 pm
Following Sunday Mass at St. Peter‘s Basilica, Pope Benedict XVI joined thousands of pilgrims gathered below his study window in praying the Angelus. He also issued a particular challenge to lay members of the Church to unite themselves with Christ.
Cardinal Jose Saraiva Martins C.M.F., prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, had celebrated the Mass and pronounced Charles de Foucauld, Maria Pia Mastena, and Maria Crocifissa Curcio, as Blessed.
Before the Marian prayer, the Pope pointed out that these new Blesseds "join the numerous ranks of Blesseds who were presented for veneration during the pontificate of John Paul II,... in keeping with the principle strongly emphasized during Vatican Council II: that all the baptized are called to the perfection of Christian life, priests, religious and laity, each according to their own charism and their specific vocation."
The Pope specifically recalled the importance given by Vatican Council II to the role of the laity, to whom, he noted, that it dedicated "an entire chapter, the fourth, of the Constitution 'Lumen gentium'“