The 53rd edition of the International Eucharistic Congress began Sept. 8 in Quito, Ecuador, with a strong call to build fraternity as a way of healing the wounds of a world full of fractures and violence.
The opening celebration included a message sent by Pope Francis, in which he emphasized that “we’re one, and only in such unity we can serve the world and heal it.”
The encounter, which will conclude Sept. 15, was planned to promote – in line with the Eucharistic invitation – human brotherhood, despite many divides, under the theme “Fraternity to Heal the World.”
Archbishop Alfredo Espinoza of Quito said in his homily during the opening Mass that the city became “a great Eucharistic tent” and people from all over the world will think about a mystery that “challenges us to be real builders of fraternity so as to heal the world’s wounds,” in a time “full of violence, death, and wars.”
The opening Mass took place in Quito’s Bicentennial Park in the presence of thousands of people and dozens of bishops. To make the celebration even more joyful, 1,600 children received their first Communion during the Mass.
Cardinal Baltazar Porras Cardozo, retired archbishop of Caracas, Venezuela, was also present as pontifical legate for the congress.
For Bishop José Adalberto Jiménez of the Aguarico Vicariate, in the Ecuadorian Amazon, the combination of the perspective of adoration brought by the Eucharist with the call to a living exercise of faith was noticeable in Pope Francis’s message to the Congress, which the pontiff sent along as he’s crossing the globe for apostolic trip to Indonesia, Papua New Guinea and East Timor.
“The pontiff invited us to be on the side of those who suffer – and do so with concrete gestures. That idea of a proactive fraternity greatly impacted me,” Bishop Jiménez emphasized, adding that the pope pointed out that simple actions should “lead us to a new world, a fairer and more humane one.”
“We have to touch the wounds of the social reality, tainted by social injustice caused by political lukewarmness and corruption,” as well as “deaths provoked by immigration” and poverty, “by criminal gangs, by the violation of the prisoners’ rights, by the pain of the families of alcoholics and drug addicts,” and by “the illegal mining that is destroying the Amazon,” Bishop Jiménez told OSV News, pointing to painful realities of the region.
“The congress was preceded by a theological symposium (Sept. 4-7) that gathered more than 600 theologians from all parts of the world. Their scholarly reflections will now be followed by a more pastoral and catechetical approach,” Father Juan Carlos Garzón, secretary-general of the congress, told OSV News.
With the theme “Wounded World,” the first full day of the congress allowed participants to think about some of the sufferings that currently exist in the world’s societies.
The problem sounds especially familiar in Ecuador’s capital. One of the speakers, Quito Mayor Pabel Muñoz, was to discuss the hardships in his city, which faced, along with several other regions, a wave of violence in January. Auxiliary Bishop Hryhoriy Komar of Sambir-Drohobych, Ukraine, was scheduled to talk about the consequences of the Russian invasion.
On the second full day, Sept. 10, the conference was to deal with distinct forms of building brotherhood, with three Latin American bishops telling the stories of key members of the region’s episcopate in the past, like Bishop Leonidas Proaño, an Ecuadorian-born prelate who devoted his life to help Indigenous groups and peasants.
The theme for day three will focus on the transfiguration of the world provoked by the Eucharist. One of the speakers will be Father José Antonio Maeso, a Spanish-born priest who has been working for several years with imprisoned people in Ecuador. Bishop Andrew H. Cozzens of Crookston, Minn., organizer of this year’s National Eucharistic Congress in the United States, will be a guest for the day.
The final two days of discussions will focus on synodality and connections between the Eucharist and fraternity. One of the speakers will be Bishop Rafael Cob of Puyo, in the Ecuadorian Amazon, who will talk about his work at the Pan-Amazonian Ecclesial Network, known as REPAM in Spanish.
The congress will conclude with a Eucharistic procession on the streets of the old central district of Quito Sept. 14; the closing Mass will be celebrated Sept. 15.
It has been 20 years since the last International Eucharistic Congress happened in a Latin American country. In 2004, it was organized in Guadalajara, Mexico.
“We’re receiving participants from 60 nations, but the event will certainly have a Latin American and an Ecuadorian face,” Fr. Garzón said. “I think our region’s Church has a special contribution to give when it comes to promoting fraternity, in line with the pope’s message.”
It’s also a region that has been dealing with violence, divides and wounds, he added.
“We’re in an injured world. We’ll hear people talking about how they work in tough places, without seeing the others as enemies. We hope our minds will be open to receive the Holy Spirit’s blow,” he added.
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