This study aims to analyze the vocation and mission of the laity in the Church, in particular, from a theological and historical perspective. We know that this theme comes arousing the interest of renowned theologians already well before Vatican Council II, theology of the laity, today, a fertile field for the legitimization and for deepening the participation of these believers in the reflection and Christian mission. Based on this finding, in the first chapter we realized that the figure of the lay Catholic throughout the centuries has been gaining a negative description, that beyond the dichotomy raised about the condition of the clergy, which gradually was causing for the overwhelming majority of Christian people, a forgotten place and increasingly main character in front of the Church. In the second chapter, we seek to expose what the Vatican Council II sought to regain the lost identity of lay people, whose performance is essential for the sanctification of the world and of their respective realities. We understand that, therefore, the vision reconcile emphasized some important concepts, such as people of God, participation, communion, common priesthood etc, which not only contributed to a new definition of the lay Christian, but also an Ecclesiological design renewal. In the third chapter, we can note that the Council advances on the issue of laity impacted positively on the Magisterium of the Church, above all in Latin America, which doesn t cease to assert the Act of the laity in the Church and in the world. Finally, it was shown that we are experiencing in recent years a time of change, which requires of us a more complete and accurate reading of the difficulties and of the contributions of the lay before the demands of the new evangelization. We believe that the recognition of the vocation and mission of the laity in the Church, constitutes for all the baptised an authentic statement of the experience of faith and community effort in building the Kingdom of God.