“The laity in the mission of the Church and of the world”: that’s the theme of the Pastoral Days of the episcopate being held at Fatima from 20 to 22 June, on the initiative of the Portuguese Bishops’ Conference. Journalists, entrepreneurs, academics and representatives of the movements and ecclesial communities have been invited to discuss the “presence and action of the laity in the field of the family and education, in political activity and in commerce, in social communication and in the life of the Church”. The permanent Council of the Portuguese episcopate met in the days preceding the meeting to decide on the new appointments to the episcopal Commissions, now reduced from 13 to 9, with the aim of achieving “a greater incisiveness of the structures and responding more rapidly to new problems”.
