to discuss the theme: Vocation and mission of the Laity: Fifty years after the Decree: Apostolicam actuositatem. In his message which was addressed to Cardinal Stanislaw Rylko, President of the Pontifical Council for the Laity, the Pope recalled how the Second Vatican Council with its keynote documents led to a new way of looking at the vocation and mission of lay people within the Church and the World. He said the Council does not consider the laity as though they were members of a second tier, at the service of the hierarchy and merely carrying out their orders issued from high up but instead as Christ’s disciples who are called to animate every place and human activity in the world according to the spirit of the Gospel. In conclusion, Pope Francis wrote that he prayed that this seminar will encourage both pastors and lay faithful to live out and put into practice this Council teaching on the laity which, he said, was always a keen pastoral concern of St. John Paul II.