According to mgr. Betori, "the missionary character of the Church drives it not to withdraw into itself, but to dialogue with everyone, to offer its testimony of the truth". As to the reference to hope that came out of the Verona meeting, the secretary of the Italian Bishops Conference explains that "speaking ‘hopefully’ to today’s man means" helping him "discover the lively Christ in history; to cling to the irreducibility of the human being, that is questioned by a certain culture; to not abdicate its responsibilities, especially towards the new generations". The role of lay people is essential: "nowadays, we need more than ever a lay maturity that will successfully combine inter-ecclesial relations with the ability to be existentially conversant with the changes that the secular life sets forth. The underlying community of intentions of the associations, the revival of a shared ethos, the translation into facts of an approach to social reality that takes inspiration from Christian hope" are, according to mgr. Betori, "the clearest signs of the growth" of the lay people, called "to commit themselves unstintingly and personally to the delicate sphere of politics". A commitment that "this is certainly not the time to stay away from, but to actually prepare and steer. The anthropological issue and the social issue he warns are not mutually exclusive, they must be faced together". (continued)
