Pope urges CELAM to empower youth, laity and women
Pope Francis greets Cardinal Ruben Salazar, Archbishop of Bogota.- AP |
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis’ eagerly awaited discourse
to the leaders of the Latin American Bishops’ Conference (CELAM)
provided a rich and colourful canvas of ideas and proposals for an integral
response to the many challenges of the continent in this time of change.
Francis has deep-rooted ties to CELAM, an institution
founded in the 1950s and that has produced a series of key documents for the
Church in the continent including the pivotal “Aparecida” document authored by
the then Archbishop of Buenos Aires, Jorge Bergoglio.
That Aparecida document, based on the belief that the Church
needs to “rid itself from all expired structures that do not favour the
transmission of the faith” is widely seen as a sort of a manifesto for Pope
Francis’ pontificate, and surfaces again and again in his vision of the role of
the Church today.
His speech to CELAM leaders, on this special Thursday in
Bogotá, confirmed Bergoglio’s firm conviction that the only way for them to
take forward their continental mission is by empowering young people, women and
lay people, expanding their role and trusting them to help the Church rise to
the many challenges it faces.
The Pope reaffirmed his trust in CELAM and reminded those
present that its mission is to place Jesus’ message of salvation at the very
heart of the Church “making it the criterion for measuring the effectiveness of
its structures, the results of its labours, the fruitfulness of its ministers,
and the joy they awaken.”
And echoing words he has already pronounced in more than one
occasion since his arrival in Colombia, “Without joy, he said, we attract no
one.”
He spoke of the need for closeness and encounter which, he
said, are the means used by God “who in Christ always draws near to meet us”
and said that “If we do not set out with him on our mission, we quickly become
lost and risk confusing our vain needs with his cause.”
He underlined the fact that “mission with Jesus in Latin
America today” means being concrete and warned his brother bishops against
being paralyzed in “air-conditioned offices” urging them to “speak to men and
women in their concrete situations” in “one-on-one contact”.
Francis also addressed CELAM’s role in encouraging
intra-continental unity both in the Church and wider society and praised its
work to build bridges, tear down walls, integrate diversity and promote
encounter and dialogue.
“No lasting construction in Latin America can do without
this essential foundation” he said.
Francis’ long and complex discourse ended with a call to the
Church in Latin America to put trust and hope in three elements: its young
people, women, and laity.
He urged CELAM to invest time and resources in training
young people and in empowering lay Catholics whom he described as protagonists
in the Church. And he had strong words for the role of women without whom – he
said - the Church will lose its power “to be continually reborn,” and that “if
we hope for a new and living chapter of faith in this continent, we will not
get it without women.”
And with yet another reference to Aparecida’s core message,
he concluded saying that Latin America’s deepest problems will not be resolved
by “textbook answers” and “talk show platitudes” but through “that Christian
simplicity hidden to the powerful, yet revealed to the lowly.”
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