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Havana (Agenzia Fides) - In a brief message to Pope Benedict XVI the members of the new presidency of the Council of Latin American Bishops' Conferences CELAM, elected during the Council's 31st Ordinary assembly nearing conclusion in Havana, Cuba, expressed their gratitude for the Pope letter authorising the publication of the CELAM 5 Final Document. "Still under the unforgettable experience of 5th General Conference of the Council of Bishops' Conferences of Latin America and the Caribbean in Aparecida inaugurated by Your Holiness, and our fraternal encounter, we wish to thank you for authorising the publication of the Document of Aparecida. With joy, as bishop disciples and missionaries of the Lord Jesus, renewed in missionary heart, we commit ourselves with new ardour to tireless evangelisation that our peoples may have life in Him".
During the assembly in Cuba, outgoing CELAM president, Cardinal Francisco Javier Errázuriz Ossa, reported on past activities including annual meetings with representatives of the Catholic Bishops' Conferences of both the United States and Canada, which the Cardinal Errázuriz Ossa said were very profitable for a number of reasons: "these meetings are an opportunity for sharing of opinions and information which helps broaden the pastoral vision of the Churches in the north to enable them to welcome the millions of ‘Latins’ in their midst and ensure them the necessary pastoral care; they awaken our admiration for the US and Canadian Bishops who have intervened with their government to show solidarity towards the south and approve good policies for the benefit of immigrants; they enhance our own pastoral vision, helping us to identify the effects of advancing secularism, its causes and how our Sisters Churches tackle this situation ".
The Cardinal that in recent years the most important question for the CELAM presidency was the preparation of the 5th General Conference of the Council of Bishops' Conferences of Latin America and the Caribbean in Aparecida. He added that the key to success of the Conference was active and widespread participation. “Above all the great consideration given by the laity to the Bishops' meeting, and their readiness to accept contributions for participation in the 5th Conference". The faithful “accompanied our prayers and our work at Aparecida day by day on the CELAM web site which registered an average of 100,000 visitors a day, and the various TV channels". Another important aspect was the presence of lay men and women, diocesan priests, permanent deacons, religious invited to take part "and were able to work and pray side by side with bishops as brothers and friends but always with the mission to be fathers and shepherds in the name of the Good Shepherd". After expressing gratitude to Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI who "accompanied and oriented the preparation and the celebration of CELAM 5”, Cardinal Errázuriz said "was a time of grace for our calling as disciples of Jesus Christ ". Aparecida was significant also for the exhaustive pastoral guidelines formulated on the basis of reports on experience of the particular Churches and the Cardinal concluded by saying that the Catholics of Latin America will face challenges and threats of the times, not with fear or aggressiveness but with hearts full of gratitude for God's gifts, starting with the faith and Christ's presence in their midst, the love of the Most Holy Mary and the Catholic substrate of their culture. (RG) (Agenzia Fides 13/7/2007; righe 42, parole 592)
