Los laicos y laicas en la vida de la Iglesia. Una reflexión de la V Conferencia del Episcopado Latinoamericano

For the 5th Conference of CELAM it is imperative to carry on aprofound reflection on the lay men and women, given therelevance that the Second Vatican Council at its time concededthem. This paper emphasizes some aspects which areunavoidable at the time of talking about a lay Church. Thefollowing aspects are then presented: understanding adiscipleship which is a ferment of the common priesthood towhich all are called from the baptism, working for an adult laity,responsible for new faces and new ministries that respond toan authentic construction of humanity, promoting the formationof the laity in order to assume the ecclesial corresponsibility,which includes such aspects as assuming female protagonismand accepting the public dimensions of human life (politics,economy, ecology, ecumenism).