ABSTRACT
The opening of this debate, moreover, marked the first time in twenty centuries of the Church's history that she was giving explicit solemn attention to laymen in the Church. "In speaking of the people of God", said Archbishop Lorenz Jaeger of Paderborn, Germany, we should be careful not to use concepts that are too idealistic: "The Church is essentially holy, but in point of fact it is a pilgrim not yet at the end of his journey; it includes sinners". In the West, the theology of the Church evolved more under the influence of the relations of the Church with Christ, along juridical, legal lines. In the Orient, however, the evolution was under the influence of the relation of the Church with the Spirit; it was kept in contact with mystery. The Spirit acts upon the concrete history of the people of God through active charisms and through the sacramentality of the Church.
