The Pope indicated that the ecclesial community “is given to all”, for this reason he called for a Church “without enlightened elites” in which everyone participates equally and “without exclusion” in a video message sent to the Episcopal Council of Latin America, Celam, this weekend.
Francisco sent this message on the occasion of the presentation of the first Ecclesiastical Assembly in Latin America and the Caribbean, which takes place at the Basilica of Guadalupe, on the Sunday of the Word and the 55th World Day of Social Communications.
“From the people of God, the enlightened elites come out,” the pope said, recalling that “the Church is breaking bread.” “The Church is with everyone, without exclusion. And an ecclesial Assembly is a sign of this, a Church without exclusion,” he added.
In his registered address, published on the YouTube channel of Celam, the Pope praised the Church’s journey in Latin America, urging all members to continue courageously in this process: “The ecclesial assembly is the first time it is took place, it is not a conference of the Latin American Episcopate as it was done in the previous ones – the last one in Aparecida – from which we still have to learn a lot. Not. It is something else, it is a meeting of God’s people lay women, lay people, consecrated women, consecrated priests, bishops, all the people of God who walk. They pray, they talk, they think, they talk, they seek God’s will. “
According to Celam, the objectives of this ecclesial Assembly are: to contemplate the reality of our peoples, to deepen the challenges of the continent, to revive the pastoral commitment and to look for new ways in a synodal key.
14 years after the Fifth General Conference of the Diocese of Aparecida (Brazil), the meeting, which is structured under the title “We are all missionary disciples gone,” will serve to reflect on its fruits and challenges, commemorating the anniversary of an event that marked the history of the Church in Latin America and the Caribbean.