The Episcopal Conference of Latin America (CELAM) composed of the 22 Bishops’ Conferences of Latin America and the Caribbean was established by Venerable Pius XII in 1955 as the first continent-wide Bishops’ Conference.
The seven Cardinals and 90 Bishops who originally composed CELAM had met for their own conference during the Eucharistic Congress held in Rio de Janiero in 1955. The meeting was prompted by the Holy See itself, and Pope Pius XII sent his own Cardinal Legate, Adeodato Piazza, to attend the discussion.
One of the main reasons for the gathering was to create a new pastoral program for the region which addressed four major topics at the time: the shortage of priests, religious education, social problems, and the plight of Amer-indian population. Conclusions from the meeting were drafted and sent to Rome for approval before being published.
Since then, CELAM members have met every few years to continue discussing major issues affecting the region, and theirs was a key voice on social issues during the Second Vatican Council.
However, though it was a novelty at the time, CELAM set the stage for the eventual creation of other continent-wide Bishops Conferences, all of which were established after Vatican II in order to foster greater unity and to encourage collegiality among local Churches.
Though still active, CELAM took a step back during the 1980s and ’90s under St. John Paul II, who preferred a greater emphasis on Bishops as shepherds of their local Church.
The last major conference CELAM held before the 2007 gathering in Aparecida was their 4th General Conference in Santo Domingo of the Dominican Republic in 1992.
However, when Benedict XVI was elected, he offered his full support and empowerment to CELAM, and personally inaugurated the 2007 gathering in Aparecida.
When asked on the flight there how Brazil had impacted his personal formation, Benedict said that while he was no expert, “I am convinced that it is here, at least in part – and a fundamental part – that the future of the Catholic Church is being decided. This has always been evident to me.”
And indeed it was during that gathering for CELAM in Aparecida that Cardinal Bergoglio would take the lead role in drafting a document that has become one of the most quoted and footnoted in his magisterial publications as Pope Francis.
During his first international journey as Pope, attending the 2013 World Youth Day in Rio de Janeiro, Pope Francis made headlines for his vibrant style of communicating, his closeness to the people, and for dropping lines like the famous appeal for Argentine youth to get on the streets and “make a mess” with their love for Christ in spreading the Gospel.
But perhaps more importantly, the Holy Father also met with CELAM leaders, telling them to embrace a “missionary spirit,” and referred them back to the 2007 concluding document from Aparecida, which he said launched a continent-wide mission aimed at Christ-centered service.
That document was a regional preview of what have become Francis’ top priorities for the universal Church: how the Catholic faithful are to approach contemporary reality as “missionary disciples.”
Other topics mentioned mentioned in the Aparecida document have come up frequently in Francis’ Pontificate: indigenous peoples, technology, the role and dignity of women, the importance of fostering community amid the diversity of the Church’s various charisms and spirituality, interreligious dialogue, the role of the Holy Spirit, human dignity, and the need to go out of ourselves.
The document also addressed Marriage, the elderly, migrants, the poor, the need for solidarity and issues of social justice, emphasizing the Beatitudes, as Francis often does, as a road-map for how the Church’s social teaching out to be lived out.
These are all issues brought up at some point in the Aparecida document, and which that have become familiar to the eyes of Vatican-watchers throughout the world.
It is clear that CELAM’s concerns have played and will continue to play a significant role in Pope Francis’ personal life and his Pontificate.
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