Laity Were First to Spread Good News of Christ's Birth

For the last 31 years, Father Raniero Cantalamessa has been the official preacher to the Papal Household.

The 'National Catholic Register' has a report this week describing the Father's ministry and his recent sermons on evangelization and laity,  preached during this Advent season.

"This Advent he is focusing on the four different historical stages of Christian evangelization. He sees the first phase as occurring in the earliest centuries of the Church, the second when the Roman Empire fell, and the third coinciding with the discovery of the New World. The fourth stage is “the present one, where the target is more the secularized Western world than the usual mission countries.”
“In the past, the role for evangelization was more entrusted to bishops, pastors, monks, religious people,” he explained. Since the Second Vatican Council, “the laity have taken their role as part of the evangelization.”...

“Laypeople were the only people present at the birth of Jesus,” such as the shepherds and Wise Men.“So this was symbolic that the first who came and spread the news about the birth of Jesus were laypeople.”

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