Archbishop Alfredo Espinoza, president of the Organizing Committee for the Congressdescribed the voice of the 53rd Congress as "hopeful" and "prophetic", which will proclaim "to all that fraternity is the only possible way to make and build a new world".
"There are many wounds in the world" and this is the mission of the Eucharistic Congress, which aims to show that "the Eucharist leads us to be builders of fraternity". "The Eucharistic Congress will make us fully aware that we are 'Eucharistic missionaries of fraternity,'" he said in May at the presentation in Rome.
Now, already from Ecuador, the Archbishop welcomed a few days ago the thousands of people who will come to Quito during these weeks of September: laity, religious, consecrated men and women, priests and bishops, in other words, all the People of God, to a congress celebrating the 150th anniversary of the Consecration of Ecuador to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
Theological Symposium
His words have also been a "starting signal", because from September 4 to 7, a "start-up" has taken place. Symposium Eucharistic Theology, at the headquarters of the Pontifical Catholic University of Ecuador.
Omnes' correspondent in Ecuador, Juan Carlos Vásconez, asked in an interview with interview Alfredo Espinoza, what experiences could those attending this congress expect. This was his answer: "I would tell them that they can expect a great welcome, an atmosphere of joy, the richness of the experience of a people who love God, live the Eucharist and manifest their faith, who ask for a blessing, a characteristic sign of our people. You can expect cultural diversity and a unique folklore, and something that no one else has, Quito is "The Middle of the World", the congress is held at latitude zero of the world, and from here, for the whole world, we want to open our hands and our hearts. We are waiting for you!
Speakers at the Symposium include Dr. Rosalia Arteaga, Dr. Gonzalo Ortiz Crespo or Dr. Vitória Andreatta De Carli, Sr. Rosmery Castañeda, Prof. Pablo Blanco (University of Navarra), and Paolo P. Morocutti (Catholic University of the Sacred Heart. Pontifical Gregorian University), the Jesuits Damian Howard (Oxford University), and Fernando Roca (Catholic University of Peru), or the businessman Juan Carlos Holguín.
Cardinal Porras: Eucharist and Sacred Heart of Jesus
"Ecuador, a Eucharistic country consecrated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus since 1874, dresses up to host the 53rd International Eucharistic Congress from September 8-15," said Cardinal Baltazar Porras, appointed Pontifical Legate for the Congress, in a letter dated August 31. "From the center of the world in our Latin American continent, we will join the apostolic journey of Pope Francis to the antipodes, the Far East, where Catholicism is present in minority and in conditions that are not easy, to preach that fraternity in Christ is an offer of salvation for the whole world".
"Ecuador has a long history around the Eucharist and devotion to the Heart of Jesus," the Cardinal stressed. "Five years after the first international congress in Lille (1881) the first national Eucharistic congress was held in Quito, on the occasion of the second centenary of the cult of the Heart of Jesus, under the patronage of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, the patriarch St. Joseph and St. Rose of Lima, under the pontificate of the sixth archbishop of Quito, Archbishop José Ignacio Ordóñez."
Pope Francis: congress "austere, but fruitful".
In the above-mentioned interview, Primate Alfredo Espinoza told Juan Carlos Vázconez: "Pope Francis, in a private audience with the Council of the Presidency of the Ecuadorian Episcopal Conference, of which I am vice-president, told me that he wanted an "austere but fruitful" Eucharistic Congress. I base myself on these words to say that the main argument would be that we want to live a "fruitful" Congress, which will help us to reflect, celebrate and deepen in our lives as Christians, the centrality of the Eucharist and to assume the commitment of a "fraternity to heal the world".
It should be noted in this context that the Pontiff, in his Message on the occasion of the 97th World Mission Sunday in 2023, pointed out that "it is necessary to remember that the simple breaking of material bread with the hungry in the name of Christ is already a Christian missionary act. A fortiori, the breaking of the Eucharistic Bread, which is Christ himself, is the missionary action par excellence, because the Eucharist is the source and summit of the life and mission of the Church".
Base document
Juan Carlos Garzon, secretary general of the Eucharistic Congress, linked the theme of the meeting with the encyclical "Fratelli Tutti", because it "coincides with the ecclesial meaning of the Eucharist, source of communion for those who celebrate it, with its mission to make visible in the wounds of the world the healing work of Christ".
Father Garzón has analyzed the Base Document The Eucharistic Congress, which will give doctrinal and theological foundation to the Congress, and which in its introduction mentions "a dream of fraternity". A fraternity, said the Secretary General, that must spring "from the Eucharistic experience" and tend "towards it as its goal".
The three parts of the Basic Document explore three perspectives of the main theme, as reported by Omnes: wounded fraternity, fraternity realized in Christ and fraternity as healing of the world.
From Rome, the president of the Pontifical Committee for the International Eucharistic Congresses, Corrado Maggioni, has expressed in various presentations and articlesThe Eucharistic Congress of Quito is "a decisive call to 'fraternity' seen as a gift from Heaven and, at the same time, as a human commitment to convert inimitable relationships into fraternal bonds, within the concerns of the present".
Programming, some speakers
Some events that can be highlighted from the programming The following are the main objectives of the Quito 2024 congress.
Day 8, Sunday. Opening Eucharist
Mass in the esplanade of the Bicentennial Park at 10:00 a.m. 1,600 boys and girls of the Archdiocese of Quito will receive their First Holy Communion. Archbishop Alfredo Espinoza, Archbishop of Quito and Primate of Ecuador, will preside.
Day 9. Wounded world
The Congress opens with a series of lectures on the wounds affecting humanity. Speakers include Archbishop Jaime Spengler, Archbishop of Porto Alegre (Brazil) and President of CELAM, Juan Manuel Cotelo, a Spanish Catholic filmmaker, and Rodrigo Guerra, Secretary of the Pontifical Council for Latin America.
Day 10. Redeemed in Christ Fellowship
Daniela Cannavina, Secretary General of the Latin American Confederation of Religious (CLAR), will share inspiring testimonies, such as those of Archbishop Bienvenu Manamika of Brazzaville and Cardinal Gregorio Rosa. Francisco Ozoria, Archbishop of Santo Domingo, will preside.
Day 11. Eucharist and transfiguration of the world
Andrew Cozzens, Bishop of Crookston (Minnesota, USA), and Bishop José Ignacio Munilla, Bishop of Orihuela-Alicante, who will give a conference on the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Eucharist.
Day 12. A synodal Church
Cardinal Mauro Gambetti, Vicar General of His Holiness for Vatican City State, presided. Speakers include Mary We, advisor to the Council for the Lay Apostolate of the Archdiocese of Taipei, and Msgr. Graziano Borgonovo, Undersecretary of the Dicastery for Evangelization, who will speak on the family and the Eucharist.
Day 13. Eucharist: Psalm of fraternity
The Congress focuses on the Eucharist as a psalm that praises and fosters fraternity among the children of God. Archbishop Anthony Fisher, Archbishop of Sydney, will preside. The theme will be developed by the Argentinean Catholic singer-songwriter Pablo Martinez.
Day 14. Eucharistic Procession
Solemn mass at 4:00 p.m. in the church of San Francisco. This will be followed by a Eucharistic procession through the streets of the historic center of Quito, decorated with floral carpets and ending at the Basilica of the Voto Nacional, where the blessing with the Blessed Sacrament will take place.
Day 15. Sunday, Closing Mass, Statio Orbis
Mass will mark the closing of the Congress, during which the venue for the next event, to be held in four years' time, will be announced. Cardinal Baltazar Porras, Pontifical Legate, will preside.
PRAYER OF THE 53RD CONGRESS INTERNATIONAL EUCHARISTIC QUITO 2024
Lord Jesus Christ,
Living bread from heaven:
Look at the people of your heart
that today praises, adores and blesses you.
You who gather us around your table
to nourish us with your Body,
overcome all division, hatred and selfishness,
let us unite as true brothers and sisters,
children of the Heavenly Father.
Send us your Spirit of love,
to search for paths of fraternity,
peace, dialogue and forgiveness,
let's work together to heal
the wounds of the world.
