AMERICA/COLOMBIA - Conclusion Congress "Medellín: 50 Years On"

Thursday, 5 April 2018

Bogotá (Agenzia Fides) – “We intend to reflect on pastoral care as an intrinsic part of ecclesial and theological work, and not simply the pastoral or practical application of theology and the life of the Church” so “we desire to intensify dialogue between the generations which founded theology in Hispanic America, and othes intermediating and emerging, in view of a better understanding of the process of reform, led by Pope Francis": this was written in a report sent to Fides by the Coordinators of the Hispanic American Project of Theology within celebrations for the 50th anniversary of the Latin American Catholic Bishops Conference (CELAM) held in Medellín. A Conference which marked the life and the way on which the Church on this Continent has walked so far.
Some 25 theologians bishops, cardinals, professors, gathered from 3 to 5 April at the Pontificia Universidad Javeriana in Bogotá, Colombia, with the entire university community to celebrate Medellín International Congress: 50 years on", reflecting among other themes on i" validity today", "option for the poor and poverty " and on the "image or face of a Church truly poor, missionary and paschal".
The opening of the Congress, organised by the Theology Faculty at the Javeriana, the School of Theology and Ministry of Boston College, was officiated by Cardinal Baltazar E. Porras Cardozo, archbishop of Mérida, and Bishop Raúl Biord Castillo of La Guaira and Vice president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Venezuela, presented the theme "Evangelization and Human Promotion in Medellin".
In February 2017 the School of Theology and Ministry held a first Hispanic American Theology meeting with some 50 theologians of Latin America, Spain and Latins in the North America starting a path of theological-pastoral dialogue in Spanish-American contexts. "On that occasion we launched two new activities. First of all a new meeting of the Hispanic American theology working Group and secondly , open to all, the realisation of the International Congress " say the Coordinators, commenting that Latin American theology has played an important role in today’s process of ecclesial renewal led by Pope Francis.
The Second General Conference of the Latin American Bishops’ Conferences (CELAM) held in Medellin, in Colombia, in 1968, was a fundamental step in the history of the Church in Latin America and the Caribbean. (LG) (Agencia Fides 05/04/2018)


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