Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Caracas (Agenzia Fides) – In a message entitled: “The 40 Years Since the Medellin General Conference,” which was issued at the close of the Venezuelan Catholic Bishops’ Plenary Assembly, the Bishops make an appeal asking that the true spirit of the Medellin Document be restored, as its pastoral proposals continue to be pertinent in the present situation of the continent. The Bishops say that the Medellin Conference “was a landmark event in the history and pastoral ministry of the Church in our region, as the Bishops resolved to point the Church towards a new and more intense presence that would transform Latin America, at the light of Vatican II.” From there came, “a commitment to profound renewal and the need for increased presence and dialogue with the world.”
The document recalls the formation and preparation of the II General Conference in Medellin, which took place August 26 to September 7, 1968. Medellin was begun and took place as a fruit of two significant events: the impressive, historical, and renewing II Vatican Council that had just ended December 7, 1965 and the establishment of the Latin American Bishops’ Conference, CELAM, that had been created in 1955. The Bishops of Venezuela also recalled the influence of the social, political, and economic situations of the peoples of Latin America then, characterized by “the misery and marginalization of masses that were considered the fruit of injustice and inequality, and that produced serious uncertainties in the area of the Church’s pastoral activity and were in need of decisive answers.”
The three main ideas that came out of that Conference were: “The vocation of man in his integral development,” that is to say that “every man has a ‘divine seed’ that has been placed inside him from his beginning. He must develop it until it reaches its fullness, in the final encounter with the Lord of Glory,” which demands fidelity to the divine call and certain life conditions that will make this integral development possible. The second ideas in that of an “integral salvation that includes man and the world in their entirety.” It is a salvation that “requires the complete freeing of man from the bondage of sin and its consequences (ignorance, oppression, misery, hunger, and death) and his incorporation in to a new life of grace, the seed of eternity.” Lastly, there is the certainty that “the Church reveals itself as sacrament of unity at the service of the People of God.”
In addition, the Medellin Message says that “the Church has assumed its saving mission for the integral promotion of the Latin American person. It analyzed the forms of evangelization and decided to revise its visible structures and promote a coordinated pastoral activity.” It also gave great impulse to the ideal and reality of the Bishops’ Conferences in Latin America. “Medellin allowed the Church in Latin America wider recognition, especially in Europe, regarding its own identity. It also shed light on “unjust poverty as one of the most common traits in Latin America,” affirming that “misery is an injustice whose cry reaches heaven and therefore, it is a sin. Freedom from poverty is salvation.” It also encouraged “active participation of the faithful in the Church’s evangelization effort and in human promotion.” Medellin also produced a great renewal effort in the area of Catholic education in Latin America, in its idea and practice, affirming that education is the key to freeing peoples from complete servitude,” paving the way towards “a greater commitment on the part of the Church and Catholic educators in educating the poorest of the poor.” Medellin was concerned about the youth, the great majority of Latin America’s population, calling for “a profound transformation in youth ministry.” And lastly, “it considered the need for a deep reform in catechesis, in order to be effective in educating children, youth, and adults in the faith, in all environments.” (RG) (Agenzia Fides 16/7/2008)
