At 10:00am this morning (4:00am EDT) today, the Holy Father received in audience those who are participating in an International Congress being held to mark the 40th anniversary of the Latin American Conference held at Puebla.
Dear brothers and sisters, good morning.
I thank the Reverend Father Bernard Ardura, President of the Pontifical Committee for Historical Sciences, for his kind words - seeing that he looks like an assistant Pope - I congratulate the Committee and the Pontifical Commission for Latin America for having wanted to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the III General Conference of the Latin American Episcopate, which took place in Puebla de los Ángeles with this Congress that is taking place in Rome.
I am glad to meet, even briefly, with the recorders and organizers of this event. I assure you that I would have liked to have more time and to share so many experiences and experiences with you.
If you would allow me some personal memory, when I was Provincial of the Society of Jesus in Argentina, I followed with great attention and interest all the intense and passionate process of preparation of that third Conference. I had in mind three outstanding facts that, without a doubt, were going to direct the event.
The first of these was the decision of Saint John Paul II to make his first apostolic trip to Mexico and to deliver the inaugural speech of the Conference, which clearly indicated the paths for its development. It was like the inauguration of his long, itinerant and fruitful missionary pontificate.
The second fact that seemed to me to be fundamental from the beginning of the preparation of the Conference was to take the Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii nuntiandi of Saint Paul VI as a backdrop and source of reference for all its realization. Evangelii nuntiandi is the best post-council pastoral document and is still valid today. And one personal thing: when I had to stay in Rome, for reasons beyond my control, I asked that they bring me very few books, very few, no more than seven, and among them was the first text I had of Evangelii nuntiandi underlined, Saint John Paul II's Redemptoris Mater with all the papers I had taken to give spiritual retreats, and the Puebla document fully evidenced in different colours. This to tell you how I followed closely at that time all this. Not infrequently I have repeated that, for me, Evangelii nuntiandi is a decisive document, of great wealth, in the post-conciliar way of the Church. Moreover, Evangelii gaudium is an elegant plagiarism of Evangelii nuntiandi and the Aparecida document. You know, I jump from there. Following in its wake and along with the Aparecida Document, came the Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii gaudium.
The third important fact was to take as a starting point the prophetic intuitions and options of the Medellin Conference so that in Puebla, you could take a further step on the path of the Latin American Church towards its maturity.
I know that you are studying the contents of the Puebla Conference. I remember some of the most significant aspects: the novelty of a historical self-awareness of the Church in Latin America; a good ecclesiology that takes up the image and the path of the people of God in the Second Vatican Council; a well-inculturated mariology; the richest and most creative chapters on the evangelization of culture and popular piety in Latin America; regarding the evangelization of cultures, Puebla laid very serious foundations to move forward; the brave criticism of the ignorance of human rights and freedoms in those times that were being experienced in the region; and the options for young people, the poor and the builders of the society.
Many of you lived it up close, including l’enfant terrible of that era that knew how to prophesy and move things forward.
It can be said that Puebla laid the groundwork and opened roads to Aparecida. It is curious that Puebla jumped to Aparecida, whereas Santo Domingo, which has its merits, stayed there because Santo Domingo was very conditioned by other commitments. And the holy Bishop of Mariana, who was the editor there, had to negotiate with everyone to leave; something might work, and that is good, but it doesn't always have the call of Puebla or Aparecida. Well, these are the ups and downs of history, without diminishing the quality of Santo Domingo, but Puebla was a pillar and it jumped to Aparecida. It would suffice to affirm only this in order to highlight the good opportunity to commemorate its 40 years, not only looking back, but projecting it into the current days of our Church.
And please continue working on these things, on these documents of the Latin American episcopate that have a lot of juice, a lot of meat, a lot of juice. They are capable of continuing the development of the very great wealth of Latin America, especially the people's popular piety. Some in Argentina asked: but why is popular piety so rich? Because it was not clericalized. Since priests did not care, the people organized in their own way. It is true that Saint Paul VI - in number 48 of Evangelii nuntiandi - has this to say: Well, some things have to be purified, but after praising the movement and changing the name. Before it was popular religiosity, now it is popular piety, he changed the name, Aparecida goes further and speaks of popular spirituality. Thank you for everything you are doing. Together I invite you to pray to the Virgin of Guadalupe and ask for her blessing.
Texto original en español
Greetings of the Holy Father, Pope Francis
to Latin-American Bishops
Dear brothers and sisters, good morning.
I thank the Reverend Father Bernard Ardura, President of the Pontifical Committee for Historical Sciences, for his kind words - seeing that he looks like an assistant Pope - I congratulate the Committee and the Pontifical Commission for Latin America for having wanted to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the III General Conference of the Latin American Episcopate, which took place in Puebla de los Ángeles with this Congress that is taking place in Rome.
I am glad to meet, even briefly, with the recorders and organizers of this event. I assure you that I would have liked to have more time and to share so many experiences and experiences with you.
If you would allow me some personal memory, when I was Provincial of the Society of Jesus in Argentina, I followed with great attention and interest all the intense and passionate process of preparation of that third Conference. I had in mind three outstanding facts that, without a doubt, were going to direct the event.
The first of these was the decision of Saint John Paul II to make his first apostolic trip to Mexico and to deliver the inaugural speech of the Conference, which clearly indicated the paths for its development. It was like the inauguration of his long, itinerant and fruitful missionary pontificate.
The second fact that seemed to me to be fundamental from the beginning of the preparation of the Conference was to take the Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii nuntiandi of Saint Paul VI as a backdrop and source of reference for all its realization. Evangelii nuntiandi is the best post-council pastoral document and is still valid today. And one personal thing: when I had to stay in Rome, for reasons beyond my control, I asked that they bring me very few books, very few, no more than seven, and among them was the first text I had of Evangelii nuntiandi underlined, Saint John Paul II's Redemptoris Mater with all the papers I had taken to give spiritual retreats, and the Puebla document fully evidenced in different colours. This to tell you how I followed closely at that time all this. Not infrequently I have repeated that, for me, Evangelii nuntiandi is a decisive document, of great wealth, in the post-conciliar way of the Church. Moreover, Evangelii gaudium is an elegant plagiarism of Evangelii nuntiandi and the Aparecida document. You know, I jump from there. Following in its wake and along with the Aparecida Document, came the Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii gaudium.
The third important fact was to take as a starting point the prophetic intuitions and options of the Medellin Conference so that in Puebla, you could take a further step on the path of the Latin American Church towards its maturity.
I know that you are studying the contents of the Puebla Conference. I remember some of the most significant aspects: the novelty of a historical self-awareness of the Church in Latin America; a good ecclesiology that takes up the image and the path of the people of God in the Second Vatican Council; a well-inculturated mariology; the richest and most creative chapters on the evangelization of culture and popular piety in Latin America; regarding the evangelization of cultures, Puebla laid very serious foundations to move forward; the brave criticism of the ignorance of human rights and freedoms in those times that were being experienced in the region; and the options for young people, the poor and the builders of the society.
Many of you lived it up close, including l’enfant terrible of that era that knew how to prophesy and move things forward.
It can be said that Puebla laid the groundwork and opened roads to Aparecida. It is curious that Puebla jumped to Aparecida, whereas Santo Domingo, which has its merits, stayed there because Santo Domingo was very conditioned by other commitments. And the holy Bishop of Mariana, who was the editor there, had to negotiate with everyone to leave; something might work, and that is good, but it doesn't always have the call of Puebla or Aparecida. Well, these are the ups and downs of history, without diminishing the quality of Santo Domingo, but Puebla was a pillar and it jumped to Aparecida. It would suffice to affirm only this in order to highlight the good opportunity to commemorate its 40 years, not only looking back, but projecting it into the current days of our Church.
And please continue working on these things, on these documents of the Latin American episcopate that have a lot of juice, a lot of meat, a lot of juice. They are capable of continuing the development of the very great wealth of Latin America, especially the people's popular piety. Some in Argentina asked: but why is popular piety so rich? Because it was not clericalized. Since priests did not care, the people organized in their own way. It is true that Saint Paul VI - in number 48 of Evangelii nuntiandi - has this to say: Well, some things have to be purified, but after praising the movement and changing the name. Before it was popular religiosity, now it is popular piety, he changed the name, Aparecida goes further and speaks of popular spirituality. Thank you for everything you are doing. Together I invite you to pray to the Virgin of Guadalupe and ask for her blessing.
Texto original en español
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