Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Aparecida (Agenzia Fides) -The 49th General Assembly of the National Conference of Brazilian Bishops (CNBB) begins on Wednesday, May 4 in Aparecida. This will be the third time that the Assembly meets in Aparecida, after the two previous Assemblies in 1954 and 1967. According to the note sent by the Episcopal Conference of Brazil to Fides, two themes will mark, in particular, the Assembly this year: the election of members of the Presidency and the general guidelines for the Evangelization of the Church in Brazil . The President, the Vice-President and Secretary General are elected for a term of four years. Besides these, the Bishops will vote again for a period of four years, the Presidents of the Episcopal Commission for Pastoral Care, which are currently ten. Chairmen of these committees, with the three members of the Presidency, form the Pastoral Episcopal Council of the CNBB (ConSep).
The text of the new guidelines, which also is valid for four years, was drawn up by a committee of Bishops presided by the Archbishop of São Luís (MA), Mgr. José Belisario da Silva, with the advice of experts. The basis of the text are the current guidelines, approved in 2008, to incorporate the final document of the Fifth Conference of the Latin America Episcopate and the Caribbean, held in 2007 in Aparecida (SP), and other documents published by the Church then, as the recent Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation "Verbum Domini" of the Holy Father Benedict XVI.
Other topics on the agenda of the Bishops will be the guidelines for the permanent diaconate, some matters of liturgy and of the Pastoral Commission for the Doctrine of the Faith, the situation of the indigenous populations, the analysis of events in ecclesial and social issues and the different problems concerning communication, the World Youth Day, the Fifth Brazilian Social Week.
The Church in Brazil has 456 Bishops, 301 active and 155 emeritus. 336 have registered for the Assembly (296 active and 40 emeritus). There are also some 119 people participating in the Assembly as consultants, experts, guests, employees, service providers, for a total of 455 people. (EC) (Agenzia Fides 05/03/2011)
