The medicine of fraternity
Fraternity to heal the world “You are all brothers” (Mt 23:8), this was the theme of the 53rd International Eucharistic Congress held in Quito from 9 to 15 September. For the occasion, the Andean capital was transformed into a Eucharistic space where all could share the dream of a fraternity redeemed and healed by Christ’s total love, each one with the richness of his faith and voice!
This Congress was certainly the ‘highest’ in history, since it took place at an altitude of over 2,800 metres in Quito, but, at the same time, it started from the bottom, from the many poor who make up the majority of a country characterised by strong inequalities and pervasive violence. Moreover, it was celebrated 150 years after the consecration of the country to the Sacred Heart, an event that continues to produce fruits of good especially in popular spirituality.
The theme of fraternity was first of all confronted with the situation in Ecuador and turned the Congress into a challenge for the whole of that country, for its government authorities and local administrators, many of whom saw in this event an opportunity to free civil life from violence and aggression.
The Theological Symposium
A prologue to the week of the Congress was the theological symposium that took place in the Auditorium of the Cultural Centre of the PUCE (Pontifical Catholic University of Ecuador). It deepened, starting from the basic document, a theology and a Eucharistic pastoral care oriented to fraternity. During the three days dedicated to the Symposium, in the auditorium of the Cultural Centre of the Catholic University, in the presence of about 450 participants, talks were given by specialists in theology and pastoral care, witnesses and pastors, pastoral workers and people involved in the different areas of charity.
After three days of fruitful reflections and the witness of committed persons, early in the morning on Saturday 7 September, the symposium participants moved to the Mitad del Mundo site where Peruvian Cardinal Pedro Barreto, president of the Ecclesial Conference of Amazonia, presided over the Eucharist celebrated next to the imposing monument erected on the site identified in the 18th century - by a French geographical mission - as the exact site of the equatorial line. The cardinal took this as his starting point to state that ‘Quito today becomes the Eucharistic city, the centre of humanity and of the world that awaits from Christians gestures of healing and mercy.’
In the afternoon of the same day, the official reception of the Papal Legate, Cardinal Baltazar Porras Cardozo, was held in the Quito Metropolitan Cathedral during the liturgical celebration of Vespers.
The week of the Congress
The Eucharistic Congress proper began on Sunday 8 September, on a beautiful sunny day, with the celebration of the Eucharist on the esplanade of the Bicentennial Park. The celebration was enlivened by the First Communion of more than 1600 children and the presence of 54 delegations from all over the world.
At the beginning of the Mass, Pope Francis appeared on the large screens and addressed the participants with his message: “Among the lessons that can be learnt from the Eucharist, you have chosen the lesson of fraternity... The early Fathers of the Church already told us that the sign of the bread kindles in the People of God the desire for fraternity, because just as bread cannot be kneaded from a single grain, so we too must walk together, because ‘though we are many, we are one body, one bread’. It is in this way that we grow as brothers... A profound brotherhood, which comes from allowing ourselves to be ground, like wheat, in order to become bread, the body of Christ, thus participating fully in the Eucharist and in the assembly of the saints.”
The activities of the 53rd International Eucharistic Congress took place from Monday 9 to Saturday 15 September and became an opportunity for the whole People of God to meet: young people, the elderly, the sick, bishops, lay people, priests, men and women religious; gathered together from different parts of the world to celebrate the Eucharist and for a fraternal and generous exchange of faith between baptised people from different cultures, lifestyles and countries. It is this living Church, capable of proposing stimulating ways of fraternity and mission, which was manifested in the large hall of Convention Centre in Quito through conferences and testimonies punctuated by moments of dialogue, reflection, silence and prayer.
Naturally, the Congress involved the entire Ecuadorian capital. On the evening of Monday the 9th, the bishops who came to the Congress went to the city's parishes to celebrate Mass with the different communities and bring the announcement of the great Eucharistic feast. On Wednesday evening, special attention was paid to the academic world with the speech in the Universidad de las Americas by Cardinal Gambetti who presented 'The challenge of fraternity in today’s world in the light of "Fratelli Tutti"' [Pope Francis Encyclical Letter].
On the evening of Thursday, 12 September, the churches of Quito festively welcomed the thousands of faithful who had come to celebrate the Eucharist in the languages of the different international delegations. Among the dozens of churches involved, it is worth mentioning at least that, in the Quito Cathedral, the Spanish-speaking faithful gathered for the celebration presided over by the Papal Legate, Cardinal Baltazar Porras Cardozo; the historic St Augustine church welcomed the faithful for the celebration in Chinese; that of St Dominic gathered the English-speaking pilgrims; in the Chapel of the Dolorosa, the Archbishop of Antananarivo presided over Mass in French; in the monumental Church of the Company of Jesus, Msgr. Gianmarco Busca presided over Mass in Italian; in the Basilica of Our Lady of Mercy the Eucharist was celebrated in Portuguese and in Japanese in the Monastery of St Catherine of Siena
On Saturday14 September, shortly before sunset, in the San Francisco Square - the scene of so much of this country's history - the President of the local Bishops’ Conference, after celebrating the Eucharist in front of a large crowd, began the procession with the Blessed Sacrament. For the occasion, the streets traversed by the procession were adorned with evocative Eucharistic designs composed of an endless carpet of multicoloured roses. The procession stopped seven times in front of some of the most representative religious monuments until it reached the Basilica del Voto Nazionale where the Papal Legate imparted the blessing of the Blessed Sacrament. The Eucharistic procession saw thousands of faithful on the streets and allowed them to experience the mysticism of the little ones and the poor, expressed by great composure and a strong participatory and affective dimension. It was an immersion in the Eucharistic spirituality of the Ecuadorian people, which enveloped and embraced the foreign pilgrims, making them participate in a faith nourished by the typical songs and simple and repeated prayers of a contagious piety.
The 'Statio Orbis’
On Sunday 15 September, once again in the Parque del Bicentenario, the “Statio Orbis” was held, the concluding celebration of the 53rd International Eucharistic Congress before an assembly of thousands of the faithful. Cardinal Porras, the Pontifical Legate, presided over the celebration and recalled in his homily, that “Fraternity is not an option, but an evangelical imperative... it is the bond of union between human beings as an expression of an authentic divine filiation, with respect for the dignity of the person, equal rights and solidarity of one towards another... From Latin America, a continent devastated by the irrational exploitation of nature, the ecological dimension becomes a virtue to be built, a dimension we cannot ignore... The Eucharist takes away the hunger for material things and kindles the desire to serve; it reminds us that we are not only mouths to feed, but also hands to feed our neighbour.”
Before the final blessing, the Legate who announced that the next International Eucharistic Congress will be held in Sydney in 2028.
Finally, the faithful present were thanked by the Archbishop of Quito and Primate of Ecuador, Monsignor Alfredo José Espinoza Mateus, who mentioned that as a fruit of the Congress, many parishes will be equipped with community soup kitchens for the poor called “The Bread of Fraternity”.
Father Vittore Boccardi, sss
Secretary, Pontifical Committee of the IEC