Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Asuncion (Agenzia Fides) – The goal is to share, analyze, and reflect on the pastoral work done in the field of popular piety and its ability to promote the study of popular piety and shrines in the Latin American culture, from the Biblical, catechetical, liturgical, and missionary perspective of the Church . Bishop Marco Antonio Ordenes of Iquique (Chile), Chairman of the Department for Popular Piety and Shrines in the CELAM, has invited all rectors of shrines in the region of the Southern Cone countries, to attend the meeting on "Popular Piety in the Document of Aparecida; The Continental Mission in Shrines and Sanctuaries." The Department of Mission and Spirituality of CELAM has scheduled this meeting for May 24-27 2010, at Casa Marianella in Atyrá, Paraguay.
Pope Benedict XVI has emphasized the "rich and profound popular religiosity, which is the soul of Latin American peoples"and presented it as "the treasure of the Catholic Church in Latin America." He has urged people to promote and protect it. This way of expressing faith is present in various forms in all social sectors, in a large number of people who deserve our respect and affection, because their piety "reflects a thirst for God which only the simple and poor can know. " "The religion of the Latin American people is the expression of the Catholic faith. This is a popular Catholicism," deeply inculturated, which contains most valuable dimension of the Latin American culture (DA 258). "The pilgrim experiences a mystery that surpasses him, not only the transcendence of God, but also the Church, which transcends his family and his neighborhood. At the shrines, many pilgrims make decisions that mark their lives. These walls contain many stories of conversion, forgiveness, and gifts received, that millions can tell." (DA 260). (CE) (Agenzia Fides 01/02/2010)
