La consistenza giuridica del bene dell’apostolato alla luce della dottrina conciliare

The Second Vatican Council entailed a profound shift in the conception of the Christian apostolate: a shift from the laity serving the clergy to the hierarchy supporting and promoting the faithful. The Council’s teachings have significant conceptual and directive significance. The paper examines the juridical significance of the main insights of the Council’s teaching (Lumen gentium, Apostolicam actuositatem, Ad gentes). The good of the apostolate has a juridical and not just moral obligatory content and a congenital need to respect and support personal and communal autonomy. The consideration of canonical doctrine is mainly oriented toward the exegetical explanation of the codified provision (cann. 211, 216, 225, etc.), without a broader and more comprehensive vision. The current pressing call to evangelization stimulates a deepening of the formative, charismatic and truthful profiles related to the juridical good. In this perspective, the realist apprehension of the juridical dimension favors the concreteness, objectivity and solidarity of apostolic commitment and an organic and integrated approach to the related promotion.