AMERICA - The new President of LAMEC in Rome to meet the Pope and the Vatican dicasteries

Rome (Agenzia Fides) - From October 6 to 12 the members of the Presidency of the Latin American Episcopal Council (LAMEC) led by their president, His Exc. Mgr. Carlos Aguiar Retes, Archbishop of Tlalnepantla (Mexico), will be in Rome to meet the Holy Father and the leaders of the various Vatican dicasteries. The new Presidency, elected last May, will be received for the first time by Pope Benedict XVI on Friday, October 7. The President, Mgr. Carlos Aguiar Retes, will be accompanied by the Colombian Mgr. Jesús Rubén Salazar Gomez, Archbishop of Bogota, and by the Brazilian Mgr. Dimas Lara Barbosa, Archbishop of Campo Grande, who are the two Vice-Presidents. With them, the Secretary of LAMEC, Mgr. Santiago Silva Retamales, Auxiliary Bishop of Valparaíso (Chile), and Mgr. Carlos María Collazzi Irazábal, Bishop of Mercedes (Uruguay), of the Economic Council.
From the statements sent to Fides we learn that during the visit to the Vatican, the members of the Presidency of LAMEC will address issues related to the life of the Church in Latin America, and will share concerns about the increasing violence and for bills that, in different countries, have promoted the decriminalization of abortion, same-sex relationships and adoption of children by homosexual couples.
The agenda includes meetings at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, of the Bishops, the Clergy and the Liturgy, as in the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, for the Laity and for Social Communications. The visit to the Pontifical Commission for Latin America will take place on 8 October. The Holy Father Benedict XVI in May 2007 attended the opening of the Fifth Latin American and Caribbean Episcopal Conference, held at the Shrine of Aparecida, in Brazil, which marked the launch of the Continental Mission throughout the American continent. (CE) (Agenzia Fides 28/09/2011)