“Communication on the way to IEC2024” is the central theme of a training day that began this Wednesday, April 10, at the headquarters of the International Eucharistic Congress, in Quito. At least twenty-five IEC2024 communication delegates from the different ecclesiastical jurisdictions of the country participate in the workshop.

The meeting seeks to offer participants theoretical content and technical tools to strengthen the communication task and promote the International Eucharistic Congress, both in ecclesiastical and secular environments.

Among the contents, the training program includes a reflection on the importance of communication in the Church, as well as the need to communicate and disseminate the International Eucharistic Congress 2024, as a great ecclesial meeting that must be communicated throughout the country.

Likewise, the training day includes practical work in specialized laboratories for journalistic writing, media training, social networks and digital communication. Likewise, panels are developed with specialists in pastoral communication, academics and journalists with extensive experience in private media of national scope.

At the first moment of the workshop, Father Livingston Olivares, president of the IEC2024 Communication Commission, welcomed the delegates and highlighted the importance of strengthening communication training processes, on the path to IEC2024.

Ecuador hosts the International Eucharistic Congress

During the first presentation of the workshop, the general secretary of the International Eucharistic Congress, Father Juan Carlos Garzón, highlighted the decision of Pope Francis in choosing Ecuador as the venue for the 53rd International Eucharistic Congress, which has as its theme “Fraternity to heal the World.” , illuminated with the biblical quote “You are all brothers” Mt 23, 8.

According to him, it is the fifth time that an International Eucharistic Congress has been held in Latin America and the first time that a meeting of this magnitude will be held in Ecuador. However, he highlighted that Ecuador was the first country in the world where a National Eucharistic Congress was held, in 1886, facts that must be adequately communicated.

The city of Quito was chosen as the venue for the 53rd International Eucharistic Congress by Pope Francis on the occasion of the commemoration of the 150th anniversary of the Consecration of Ecuador to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, an event that took place on March 25, 1874.

Fraternity is Eucharistic

For his part, the president of the Pontifical Committee for International Congresses, Father Corrado Maggioni, who has been visiting Ecuador since last April 4, commented that, although sometimes it does not seem like it, “the theme of fraternity is actually Eucharistic.” .

As he said, the sign of the Eucharist is to gather together, to gather together. He added that the same “listening in the Liturgy of the Word, listening to God who speaks to all of us, is a full experience of the Eucharist, the presence of Christ in the gathered assembly, in the bread that becomes the body of Christ”.

He emphasized that the objective of the congress is: “To celebrate the Eucharist and understand what is celebrated; learn to distinguish between the Eucharistic cult related to adoration and the Eucharistic cult related to the celebration of the Holy Mass, which is more important.”

The training day, which will last until Friday, April 12, began with a tour of the offices of the International Eucharistic Congress and in the afternoon continued with a visit to the facilities of National Catholic Radio and subsequent participation in the solemn Eucharistic Celebration in which the Ecuadorian episcopate renewed the Consecration to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, in the Basilica of the National Vow.

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