The Basilica del Voto Nacional in Quito, built to mark the consecration of the country to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

On 20 March 2021 a statement from the Press Office of the Holy See announced that Pope Francis chose the Archdiocese of Quito (Ecuador) as the venue for the 53^rd International Eucharistic Congress: “It will be held in the year 2024, on the occasion of the 150^th anniversary of the consecration of that noble Country to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. This great ecclesial meeting will demonstrate the fruitfulness of the Eucharist for evangelization and the renewal of faith in the Latin-American continent.”

Thus, from 8 to 15 September 2024, the city of Quito will appear utterly festive to experience, in the colourful tangle of its colonial streets, a global event in which thousands of people from all over the world will participate. With them this city will share its Eucharistic faith and demonstrate the joy that flows from every fraternal celebration.

The Eucharistic Congresses were born long ago in 1881 thanks also to the work of the French Blessed Sacrament Fathers who were part of the founding committee. The Eucharistic movement triggered worldwide by the Congresses has followed the course of history and, together with the other liturgical, biblical, ecumenical, patristic movements... has contributed to give shape to the Church’s renewed face as it emerged from the Vatican II.

After almost a century and a half of history, mirroring the Eucharistic life of the time and bearing priceless fruits of holiness and ecclesial growth, the Eucharistic Congresses today underline the centrality of the Mass in the life of the Church and work to generate a “Eucharistic culture” , that is, a way of thinking and acting based on communion with Christ and on the teaching about fraternal giving and service. By interfacing positively with Christian communities everywhere, these “Eucharistic feasts” demonstrate the missionary vocation of the Church that offers what it holds most dear: “the broken bread in her hands, the wounds of Christ before her eyes, and the Spirit of love in her heart.”

Now it is up to Quito, the capital of a splendid and troubled country, to announce that only fraternity springing from the Eucharist can heal the world. “Fraternidad para sanar el mundo” is, in fact, the theme of the Congress developed in a Basic Text which made it possible to prepare various meetings and the contents of the event. The content of the Basic Text – available in many languages on the Congress websites – is intertwined with various elements that mark our ecclesial season. Starting with the historic document, A document on human fraternity for world peace and living together, which Pope Francis signed on 4 February 2019, in Abu Dhabi, with Ahmad Al-Tayyeb, the Grand Imam of the Al-Azhar University of Cairo, another focus is placed on the papal encyclical Fratelli tutti (3 October 2020). Moreover, as from 5 August 2020, the pontiff held a series of catechesis on the theme “To heal the world” that points to some fundamental principles of the social doctrine developed by the Church to help the healing of the personal and social fabric. Among them it is worth mentioning “the principle of the dignity of the person, the principle of the common good, the principle of the preferential option for the poor, the principle of the universal destination of goods, the principle of solidarity, of subsidiarity, the principle of care for our common home.”

Our text, therefore, intersecting with these themes and with others – such as the synodality on which the universal Church is working – presents the living witness of the Christian communities, which, in this hour of history, go ahead strengthened and illumined by the Eucharist while encompassing “the joys and hopes, the griefs and anxieties of people of our time.”

Without resorting to algorithms of artificial intelligence but drawing on the wisdom experience of the particular churches that inhabit the South American continent, the Basic Text emphasizes that by being centred on the Eucharist – which is nothing other than the Gospel celebrated – Christians, transformed into bread broken for the life of the world by the sacrament they celebrate, can become the balm capable of healing the wounds afflicting the universal value of fraternity. In short, fraternity can heal the world since its efficient wellspring is in the Eucharistic celebration.

Finally, it is worth remembering that the choice to entrust the celebration of this international event to the Church of Ecuador is also linked to the memory of an event that marked the modern history of the Latin American country, namely the 150^th anniversary of the consecration of country to the Sacred Heart of Jesus which occurred on 25 March 1874.

To Christians from all over the world who will go to Quito, the Congress will also present the memory of that gesture so that, abandoning sterile devotionalisms, the Eucharist can be experienced. as Paul VI stated, as the entire gift of Christ's love represented by his Sacred Heart: “We desire that, through a more intense participation in the Sacrament of the altar, the Heart of Jesus, whose greatest gift is precisely the Eucharist, may be honoured.” And Pope Francis in the Apostolic Letter Desiderio desideravi adds that celebrating the Eucharist entails “to be plunged into the furnace of God’s love” where ecclesial communion grows.

Despite political and social difficulties, the Ecuadorian people are preparing the International Eucharistic Congress as an occasion of grace to make their own country into a place of peace, work and fraternity and of sharing their faith joyfully.

http://www.congressieucaristici.va/content/congressieucaristici/it.html

Father Vittore Boccardi, sss
Secretary Pontifical Committee IEC