Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Managua (Agenzia Fides) – On May 12-16, Managua's Interdiocesan Seminary of Our Lady of Fatima will host the 32nd Meeting of the Latin American Bishops' Conference (CELAM). News of the event was released in a briefing held by Archbishop Leopoldo Brenes of Managua, President of the Nicaraguan Bishops' Conference (CEN), and Bishop Socrates Rene Sandigo of Juigalpa, Vice-President of the CEN.
The Meeting will be attended by some 60 Bishops of the 22 Bishops' Conferences in Latin America, as well as Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, Prefect of the Congregation for Bishops. The Bishops will be accompanied by members of aid organizations of the Catholic Church.
Bishop Sandigo explained that the 5th General Conference celebrated in Aparecida (Brazil) in 2007 left the new directors of CELAM with the task of promoting a missionary activity in the 22 Bishops' Conferences of Latin America. Thus, during this meeting, the Bishops will evaluate how the mission is going in the continent and how to give it a second wind in response to the situations presented by the Bishops. The assembly will also elect a new Secretary General for CELAM, for two years, succeeding the present Secretary General Victor Sanchez, who was elected Archbishop of Puebla, Mexico.
This CELAM meeting, the first ever to be held in Nicaragua, will take place as the country struggles with the impact of the economic crisis as well as other local crises, and the threat of Influenza A. (RG) (Agenzia Fides 6/5/2009)
