What happened at the Medellin Conference?
The General Conferences of CELAM held at Medellín, Colombia (1968), and Puebla, Mexico (1979), are important milestones in the recent history of the Latin American church.
What is the relationship between the CELAM and liberation theology?
CELAM support for liberation theology was frowned on by the Vatican and Pope Paul VI, who tried to slow the movement after the 1962-1965 Council. Cardinal Antonio Samoré, in charge of relations between the Roman Curia and the CELAM as the leader of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America, was ordered to put a term to this orientation.
What was the Medellin Conference?
The Medellin Conference in 1968 opened the way for the development of liberation theology, and endorsed the formation of base communities under lay leaders approved by the pastor. As base communities greatly multiplied, critics would complain of Marxist ideology and propensity toward violent confrontation. In 1978 Pope John Paul II, ...
What is the Latin American Episcopal Council?
The Latin American Episcopal Council (Spanish: Consejo Episcopal Latinoamericano), also known as CELAM, organized the conference in Medellin in order to give direction to the Church in Latin America. In an introductory statement the bishops wrote:
What did Dom Hélder Câmara call for?
Bishop Dom Hélder Câmara called for a "structural revolution" which would allow for integral development and the full flourishing of every human person. Pope Paul VI had spoken of "just insurrection" and the possible use of violent rebellion in certain situations.
Who was the Pope in 1978?
In 1978 Pope John Paul II, a staunch opponent of Communism in his native Poland, diminished the influence of liberation theology by appointing in Latin America only conservative bishops. Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, later Pope Benedict XVI, as Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, was in charge of enforcing doctrine which largely ...
What is the Latin American business enterprise?
10. In today’s world, production finds its concrete expression in business enterprises, the industrial as well as the rural; they constitute the dynamic and fundamental base of the integral economic process. The system of Latin American business enterprises, and through it the current economy, responds to an erroneous conception concerning the right of ownership of the means of production and the very goals of the economy. A business, in an authentically human economy, does not identify itself with the owners of capital, because it is fundamentally a community of persons and a unit of work, which is in need of capital to produce goods. A person or group of persons cannot be the properties of an individual, of a society, or of the state.
Why can't the Latin American bishops remain indifferent?
1. The Latin American bishops cannot remain indifferent in the face of the tremendous social injustices existent in Latin America, which keep the majority of our peoples in dismal poverty, which in many cases becomes inhuman wretchedness.
What is socialization in Latin America?
13. Socialization understood and as a socio-cultural process of personalization and communal growth, leads us to think that all of the sectors of society, but in this case, principally the social-economic sphere, should, because of justice and brotherhood, transcend antagonisms in order to become agents of national and continental development. Without this unity, Latin America will not be able to succeed in liberating itself from the neo-colonialism to which it is bound, nor will Latin America be able to realize itself in freedom, with its own cultural, socio-political and economic characteristics.
Who was the president of the Department of Missions of CELAM?
In 1968, Bishop Samuel Ruiz of Chiapas, Mexico, was named president of the Department of Missions of CELAM.
Who was the leader of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America?
Cardinal Antonio Samoré, in charge of relations between the Roman Curia and the CELAM as the leader of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America, was ordered to put a term to this orientation. With Alfonso López Trujillo 's election in 1972 as general secretary of CELAM, conservatives gained control of this organization, ...
What did the Holy See condemn?
In 1984 and 1986, the Holy See twice condemned elements of liberation theology, especially Marxist elements. In his travel to Nicaragua, John Paul II harshly condemned what he dubbed the "popular Church" (i.e. "base ecclesiastic communities" supported by the CELAM) and against Nicaraguan clergy's tendencies to support the Sandinistas, ...
Who propounded the liberation theology?
During the four next years, CELAM prepared 1968 Medellín Conference, in Colombia, officially supporting " base ecclesiastic communities " and the liberation theology propounded by Gustavo Gutiérrez in his 1972 essay, A Theology of Liberation: History, Politics and Salvation.
Geschichte
Das erste kontinentale Treffen lateinamerikanischer Bischöfe im Jahr 1899 gilt als Gründungsereignis der päpstlichen Lateinamerikapolitik. Bis heute finden parallel zu den Generalkonferenzen der CELAM auch lateinamerikanische Kontinentalsynoden in Rom statt, auf denen sich die Bischöfe aus Lateinamerika austauschen.
Weitere Organisationen
Im Juni 2020 wurde die Conferencia Eclesial de la Amazonia gegründet. Diese länderübergreifende Kirchenkonferenz für das Amazonasgebiet fokussiert insbesondere auf die Marginalisierung der indigenen Bevölkerung und die Umweltzerstörung im Amazonasbecken. Derzeit ist sie administrativ an die CELAM angegliedert; ein autonomer Status ist geplant.