Conference set in Mexico

    A conference Nov. 16-19 led by the Pontifical Commission for Latin America and co-sponsored by the Knights of Columbus discussed the role and mission of the Catholic Church in North, South and Central America. It was held at the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City.
    “Our Lady of Guadalupe, Star of the New Evangelization on the American Continent” conference’s focus was on the Church’s continental mission in light of Our Lady’s important place as Mother of the Church in America, and in the wake of the election of Pope Francis – the first pope of the American hemisphere whose impact was the subject of discussion.
    Inspired by Blessed John Paul II’s exhortation “Ecclesia in America” (The Church in America published in 1997) in the wake of the Synod for America held in 1997, the conference was to include addresses by Cardinal Marc Ouellet, president of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America and former primate of Canada; Knights of Columbus Supreme Knight Carl Anderson; Msgr. Eduardo Chavez, director of the Instituto Superior de Estudios Guadalupanos; New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan; Boston’s Cardinal Sean O’Malley; Louiwville Archbishop Joseph Kurtz, new president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops; and others.
     Pope Francis was to give a video message Nov. 16 following by welcome from Cardinal Norberto Rivera Carrera, archbishop of Mexico City; and Archbishop Christophe Pierre, the Vatican’s apostolic nuncio in Mexico.
    “At Guadalupe, Mary’s message was one of love and reconciliation, which can be seen echoed in Pope Francis’ efforts to reach out to the poor and marginalized, to the fallen-away and those who have never really followed Christ,” observed Supreme Knight Carl Anderson, who was to address the gathering on the Church’s New Evangelization Nov. 17. “Pope Francis has focused on the New Evangelization with a model that is clearly related to the American model embodied by Our Lady of Guadalupe, a model based on loving outreach, on charity and on concern for the spiritual and physical well-being of all.”
 – CHRISTIAN NEWS WIRE, Mexico City