ASSOCIATIONS &
MOVEMENTS
A good part of the activity
of the Pontifical Council for the Laity is indicated in art. 134 of
the Apostolic Constitution Pastor Bonus: “Within the
parameters of its own competence, the Council performs all
activities respecting lay associations of the Christian faithful: it
erects associations of an international character and provides
approval or recognitio for their statutes... As for secular
third orders, the Council deals only with those matters concerning
their apostolic activity” The scope of this task can be gauged from
the Apostolic Exhortation Christifideles laici. Noting “the
richness and the versatility of resources that the Holy Spirit
nourishes in the ecclesial community and... the capacity of
initiative and the generosity of our lay people”, the Exhortation
speaks of “a new era of group endeavours” of the lay faithful, in
which, “alongside the traditional forming of associations, and at
times coming from their very roots, movements and new sodalities
have sprouted...”.
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