Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Aparecida (Fides Service) - After twenty intense days work at the 5th General Conference of the Council of Bishops' Conferences of Latin America and the Caribbean in Aparecida Cardinal Jorge Liberato Urosa Savino, Archbishop of Caracas, Venezuela shares with Fides his experience and impressions.
“The Conference has many significant aspects. First of all it has taken place at the Marian Shrine of Aparecida which enabled us to sense more deeply the love of the Blessed Virgin Mother who is the patroness of the universal Church and in a special way of the Church in Latin American and Brazil. I have been amazed to see the constant flow of pilgrims who come to show their devotion to Mary from all over the continent and this is a sort of mark of our people. This is for me an example and an encouragement for my own personal life of faith and it will also affect my pastoral ministry in Caracas".
"I would also underline the experience of collegiality, of belonging to a community of millions of believers represented by the Bishops, the experience of ecclesial communion among the bishops and the Holy See and of course our encounter with Pope Benedict XVI on 12 and 13 May. This experience of community and unity gives great encouragement. We realise we are not alone, we are blessed with the presence of people of great virtue and talents”.
Cardinal Urosa concludes " This Conference must give powerful impulse for renewal in the Church all over Latin America. One element of renewal will be the Great Continental Mission which we are planning here. The Mission will of course be centred on Jesus Christ, the Way, the Truth and the Life, the only source of true happiness. Salvation can only be found in his name ”. (FP/RG) (Agenzia Fides 31/5/2007; righe 25, parole 353)
