NEW EVANGELIZATION IN LATIN AMERICA

Cipriano Calderón

Vice President of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America

Just a few days before the Pilgrim of Evangelization, John Paul II, touched again the blessed soil of Brazil - where in 2000 it will be five centuries since the Holy Cross of Jesus Christ was planted - a message from the Pope had already arrived at Rio de Janeiro from the Vatican, signed precisely on September 14, the feast of the Triumph of the Cross. It was a message addressed to CELAM - episcopal conference of Latin America - which was gathered in that immense and beautiful metropolis - cidade maravilhosa, as John Paul II called it - to «highlight some orientations and recommendations» for the preparation of the Churches in Latin America to cross the «threshold of hope» and lead them into the third millennium.

The Pope, in this exceptional crossroads of history, invites us to center our attention in «Christ, Savior and Evangelizer»; in Jesus Christ, «the first and the greatest evangelizer» (Evangelii Nuntiandi, 7); «Gospel of the Father» and «Evangelizer living in his Church», to use the felicitous expressions of the final Document of the Conference of Santo Domingo.

The People of God, pilgrims in Latin America, are particularly sensitive to this ineffable aspect of the Lord, i.e., that of «Evangelizer», to which John Paul II alludes in Tertio Millennio Adveniente (40), making «particular reference to the fourth chapter of Luke of Gospel, where the theme of Christ sent to evangelize and that of the Jubilee are intertwined».

In Bogota, CELAM's chapel is dedicated to Jesus Christ Evangelizer and, in many nations of the continent, there are already many chapels and pastoral centers of the same name, with expressive images which emphasize St. Paul's «Evangelizare Iesum Christum»: announce Jesus Christ (cfr. Gal. 1,16).

«Every project in the ecclesial field must take its point of departure in Christ and in his Gospel,» affirms the Pope in the cited message to CELAM, remembering what Paul VI said - the first Pope who visited Latin America and whom we are remembering with special affection in these days, on the centenary of his birth - «there is no true evangelization if the name, teaching, life, promises, Kingdom, and the mystery of Jesus of Nazareth, Son of God, are not proclaimed» (Evangelii Nuntiandi, 22).

For this reason, every pastoral activity in Latin America aimed at preparing the faithful for the Great Jubilee is centered in knowing Christ and his Gospel more profoundly, to live it fully and to invite all men and women to an «encounter with the living Jesus Christ, the way of conversion, communion and solidarity». This is the theme of the Special Assembly for the Synod of the Americas which the Pope has convoked to begin Sunday, November 16.

The Second World Meeting of the Holy Father with Families, held October 4-5 in Rio de Janeiro, was maybe one of the greatest evangelizing events ever to take place in Latin America, second only to the celebration of the Fifth Centenary of Evangelization, October 12, 1992, when, in Santo Domingo, the Universal Pastor of the Church made a fresh appeal, with special emphasis, to the bishops, priests, religious men and women and lay people of the continent to the New Evangelization which is being carried out with great breadth and depth in the prospective of the new times which draw near.

It is foreseen that, at the beginning of the next century, Latin America will be home to half the world's Catholics, with approximately 1,200 bishops. This demonstrates the role of protagonist which the Churches of Latin America are called to play in the third millennium, with a evangelizing vision, as the Pope highlighted in the cited message, «toward Africa, Asia and also Europe».

In Rio de Janeiro, before an immense crowd - gathered around the famous and imposing image of Christ the Redeemer, which, from the hills of Corcovado, dominates the city and spreads its arms toward the ocean, as if projecting its message to the whole world - the Holy Father gave a decisive impulse to the New Evangelization of Latin America, indicating two fundamental "fronts" of pastoral work, which should characterize and in a certain sense absorb the commitment of the Pastors of the Church in these past years. The "fronts" are indicated in the message to CELAM: «the evangelization and sanctification of spouses» and the «vocational pastoral». The first, because «the New Evangelization passes by way of the family». The second, because the «Church, in carrying out the mission of announcing the Good News which Christ entrusted to it, makes itself present in the world by means of evangelizers», since «it is an indispensable condition of the New Evangelization to be able to count on numerous and qualified evangelizers».

In any case, the two fronts of ecclesial action, these two coordinates of ecclesial action, are intertwined, because the «Civilization of love» is founded on the family and is edified by the evangelizers - above all by priests and religious men and women - whose vocations generally flower in families which are deeply evangelized, i.e., in families where the «living Christ» is present, «the one Savior of the World, yesterday, today and always».