Latin American bishops celebrate 50 years of CELAM

Published: 2005-05-18

LIMA, Peru (CNS) -- Bishops from throughout Latin America met in mid-May to celebrate the founding of the organization that has provided them with a platform for reflection and joint action over the past five decades, amid the revolutions, dictatorships and economic and political crises that have rocked the region. The Latin American bishops' council, known by its Spanish acronym CELAM, "was a surprising new idea," born of "joint reflection by the bishops of Latin America," Guzman Carriquiry, undersecretary of the Pontifical Council for the Laity, told prelates and guests in a lecture at the opening of the assembly May 17 in Lima. The assembly was to end with a Mass May 20. CELAM grew out of the first conference of the region's prelates in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 1955. Although the assembly meets each year, subsequent conferences were held in Puebla, Mexico; Medellin, Colombia; and Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. A fifth conference is tentatively scheduled for February 2007 in Ecuador.

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