P. Corrado Maggioni
President of the Pontifical Committee for International Eucharistic Congresses

The Eucharistic mystery is not one of the many realities of Christian life but its foundation. It shines more intensely for all the baptized during Sunday Mass, the weekly Easter, but it does not end with the “You may go in peace.” The Eucharistic celebration fulfills its purpose if it makes the life of those who participate in it Eucharistic.

From this perspective, the idea of gathering people from various countries to celebrate the Eucharist and reflect on its ecclesial and social meaning has always been intended to rekindle the awareness that Christ’s presence among us and through us is the heart of the Church and its mission. It indeed concerns all Churches, every parish, in all the countries where the living Body of Christ extends over the planet. Gathering together, with different sensitivities, cultures, histories, despite linguistic differences, perhaps with still-open wounds of fratricidal hostilities, means focusing attention on the only leaven capable of truly fermenting human history, turning it into new dough for the Kingdom of Heaven.

INTERNATIONAL EUCHARISTIC CONGRESS

The history of International Eucharistic Congresses, with their themes of reflection and activities promoted among the people of God, testifies to the impact of these events on the nations that have hosted them and on the generations of priests, religious, and laypeople involved. Indeed, a diachronic look at the fifty-two Congresses held to date allows us to grasp the “historical” vision of the Church, juxtaposing what has been its theology, liturgy, and Eucharistic spirituality over time and in various cultures.

1.1. A Look at History

From the first Congress held in Lille in 1881, all subsequent Congresses have been characterized by impressive public manifestations aimed at confirming faith in the “real presence” of Christ in the Eucharist and increasing Eucharistic devotion. The Congress movement had matured in France following the spiritual legacy of Saint Pierre-Julien Eymard, founder of the Blessed Sacrament Fathers (1868), influential priests such as Blessed Antoine Chevrier (†1879) and Gaston-Adrien de Ségur (†1880), and numerous fervent laypeople, including Léon Dupont (†1876) and especially Émilie Tamisier (†1910), promoter of the Congress Work. It is interesting to note how, from the beginning, the role of laypeople, men and women who believed deeply in it and dedicated their energy to maintaining interest and organizing these events, was decisive.

The character of the Eucharistic Congresses gradually became more international and missionary, crossing the borders of European countries: the Congresses of Montreal (1910), Chicago (1926), Sydney (1928), Carthage (1930), Buenos Aires (1934), Manila (1937), Rio de Janeiro (1952), Bombay (1964), Bogotá (1968), Melbourne (1973), Philadelphia (1976), Nairobi (1985), Seoul (1989), Guadalajara (2004), Quebec (2008), Cebu (2016). These events marked “Eucharistically” the path of the Church in these countries and their respective continents. In Latin America, one can remember the Congress in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on the theme “The Social Kingship of Christ through the Eucharist” (1934), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on the theme “The Eucharistic Kingdom of Christ the Redeemer” (1955), Bogotá, Colombia, on the theme “Vinculum Charitatis,” with the historic visit of Saint Paul VI and his meeting with 300,000 Latin American peasants (1968), and Guadalajara, Mexico, on the theme “The Eucharist, Light and Life of the New Millennium” (2004). Now, the 53rd Congress in Quito (Ecuador), at the “center of the world,” resonates as a decisive call to “fraternity” seen as a gift from heaven and, at the same time, as a human commitment to transform antagonistic relationships into fraternal bonds, within the concerns of the present time. The epochal change we are living through has led everyone, although in different ways, to the conviction that “no one is saved alone,” as Pope Francis often repeats.

1.2. What an Eucharistic Congress Is Today

The new understanding of the Eucharistic mystery that began with the liturgical movement and matured with the Second Vatican Council has also reoriented the Eucharistic Congresses to promote the inseparable link between the celebration of the Mass and Eucharistic devotion outside it, paying attention to the life of individuals and communities. The Eucharistic Congress has thus become an opportunity and a reason to express the Church of the Eucharist in light of Vatican II and the liturgical reform that followed.

This was taken into account in the renewed De sacra Communione et de Cultu Mysterii Eucharistici extra Missam (1973), which dedicates numbers 109-112, providing first indications on the sense of the Congress, understood as a “pause for prayer and commitment”; then it recalls the elements to be considered in its preparation: catechesis on the Eucharist, “especially as the mystery of Christ living and operating in the Church”; participation in the liturgy “that promotes the religious listening to the Word of God and the fraternal sense of the community”; evangelical ferment initiatives and the realization of social works “that promote human advancement and the due communion of goods, including temporal ones”; finally, the inspiring criteria of the Congress are recalled: “that the Eucharistic celebration be the center and culmination of all the diverse manifestations and forms of piety”; that the deepening of the proposed theme in various ways favors practical involvement; prayer and prolonged adoration of the Blessed Sacrament in specific churches in the city; the procession with the Blessed Sacrament should be exemplary.

The international nature of the Congress manifests the universality of the Eucharistic mystery that configures each baptized person, each in their own state of life, as well as each Christian family, religious community, parish, diocese. This is manifested with their own characteristics by the Eucharistic Congresses held to date.

1.3. Why Quito 2024 and Its Theme

The choice of Quito as the host city for the 2024 Congress is motivated by the 150th anniversary of the consecration of the Latin American country to the Sacred Heart of Jesus (March 25, 1874). It was an act promoted by the then-president of the country to place Ecuadorian history into the hands of Him who loves humanity without borders or conditions. The memory of that social event was concretized in the vow to build a majestic temple to the Sacred Heart of Jesus that today stands among the distinctive symbols of the city of Quito. On the occasion of this anniversary, the bishops of Ecuador have chosen to host the International Eucharistic Congress 2024. After all, as Saint Paul VI said, “The greatest gift of the Heart of Jesus is precisely the Eucharist” (cf. Investigabiles divitias Christi). Entrusting oneself to the wounded Heart of Christ is to enroll in the school of love that freely springs from the lives of others, stronger than all our egoisms, hatreds, and divisions.

The theme of the Quito Congress is: “Fraternity to Heal the World,” illuminated by Jesus’s incisive words: “You are all brothers” (Mt 23:28). The thematic statement shines with a very understandable “Eucharistic” light: it unites fraternity within the Church, ceaselessly built by the Eucharist, with its “healing” mission in the world, extending the presence of Christ, Savior of the whole person—spirit, soul, and body; the Eucharistic call to fraternity goes beyond the borders between nations and the diverse peoples that compose them, with their languages and cultures, including past and present encounters and disagreements. Reached Eucharistically by the love flowing from the Heart of Christ, we recognize ourselves as brothers, children of the same Father, builders of a fraternity that heals relationships between people, with the earth, and with the living environment.

The Eucharistic celebration resounds as a continuous call, each time we participate in it, to live as children in the Son who is Christ, and to live as brothers, excluding no one. The Eucharist is therapeutic for the wounds each person carries and is a healing mandate for the sufferings of the world we live in.

The theme of the Congress traverses several paths indicated by the Pope’s magisterium: synodality above all, which is an experience to be lived more than a concept to be understood, as Francis often reminds us. The synodal journey we are living, at the diocesan, national, and universal levels, clearly also illuminates the International Eucharistic Congress. The same encyclical Fratelli tutti on fraternity and social friendship directly challenges the work of the Congress, providing an opportunity for the Pope’s magisterium to reach the ecclesial fabric. The same applies to the encyclical Laudato si’ on the care of our common home. These pronouncements, along with others mentioned in the base document, provide quality material to prepare for the Quito Congress.

2. BASE DOCUMENT

Regarding the theme of the Congress, the Theological Commission of the Local Committee, in collaboration with the Pontifical Committee for International Eucharistic Congresses, has prepared a reflection document, called the base document. This serves as a content outline both for the preparatory initiatives for the 2024 Congress and for the thematic deepening of its celebratory week. It is presented as an agile, brief, and easily readable text, suitable for personal meditation and as a stimulus for formation and reflection meetings at various levels.

2.1. Sources of Inspiration

The base document for the Congress takes into account two sources of inspiration. The first includes sources valid for everyone, beyond legitimate theological and cultural schools: Sacred Scripture, the documents of the Second Vatican Council, liturgical books (Missale Romanum, with the Institutio generalis and the Praenotanda of the Ordo lectionum Missae; De Sacra Communione et de Cultu Mysterii Eucharistici extra Missam), the magisterium of the popes and bishops, particularly the Latin American episcopate, the Catechism of the Catholic Church; since the Eucharistic mystery also concerns popular piety, reference is made to the Directory on Popular Piety and the Liturgy. Of course, not being a treatise on the Eucharist, these sources are cited for thematic emphasis. For example, from Pope Francis, the encyclicals Evangelii gaudium and Fratelli tutti, the apostolic letter Desiderio desideravi, and passages from homilies and speeches are cited. From Saint John Paul II, the encyclical Ecclesia de Eucharistia is cited, while from Benedict XVI, the apostolic exhortation Sacramentum caritatis and the encyclical Deus caritas est are referenced.

The second source, intentionally considered to underline the importance of combining the Eucharist with lived experience, is represented by the testimony of individuals who translated the mystery celebrated at the altar into Christian life choices. The figures of Saint Óscar Romero (†1980), Dominican friar Antonio de Montesinos, and Leónidas Proaño Villalba, bishop of Riobamba, a region with the largest indigenous population in Ecuador, are described. The testimony of Christians who have served the Gospel with the freedom of love is much more eloquent than words in conveying the power of the Eucharist to create fraternity, closeness, solidarity, and heal the wounds of the world.

2.2. Four Keys of Interpretation

The document is primarily a window into the theme of the Quito Congress. It helps us understand what will be discussed, what topics will be addressed, what challenges await us, and what options we should be inspired by. It is not a systematic and exhaustive exposition of what the Eucharist is in its biblical, liturgical, doctrinal, spiritual, and pastoral aspects. While keeping all these aspects in view, the base document is not a small treatise or manual on the Eucharist: it does not aim to say everything that can be said about the Eucharistic mystery but rather offers options suggested by the theme of the Congress, the country where it takes place, and the socio-ecclesial context of Latin America. If some readers find the Latin American imprint evident, it should be recognized as its merit. Furthermore, excellent expositions of the Church’s Eucharistic faith already exist. The base document aims to be a “focused” reflection on the theme of fraternity in light of the Eucharistic mystery and its meaning within the Church and for its mission in today’s world.

Secondly, it represents a concrete orientation for preparing the 2024 Congress and living through its days. Like any event, this one will yield results to the extent that those who participate in it, personally or through social networks, come prepared, that is, capable of receiving from others and offering something of their own, which is a condition for enriching mutual exchange. It outlines the path of common reflection, to avoid dispersing into various streams and to delve into a shared itinerary.

Thirdly, the base document is addressed to all those who, in various ways, are and can be involved in the Congress. Primarily, it is directed to the Churches of Ecuador, as well as diocesan delegates and national representatives for Eucharistic Congresses, members of religious institutes and communities with Eucharistic charism, leaders and members of confraternities, movements, clerical and lay associations marked by Eucharistic spirituality. It is not, therefore, a text for specialists in theology nor is it intended for any specific category of people, but rather is broadly useful, as it is designed for the people of God.

Fourthly, it is a tool for communion, in the sense that it promotes common reflection among different countries and continents on the theme of the Quito Congress. Indeed, the International Congress organized by a particular Church in Ecuador resonates as an invitation to other Churches to come together from all countries and languages to celebrate the Eucharist together and allow themselves to be challenged by its mystery, living the experience of fraternal communion.

STRUCTURE AND CONTENT OF THE BASE DOCUMENT

The reflection developed in the document is divided into three parts. The introduction and conclusion are subtitled with the same words of Jesus: “You are all brothers” (Mt 23:8), which are neither a counsel nor an exhortation for the more willing. They rather sound like a precise invitation to become aware of an objective fact inscribed in our humanity and thus as a mandate to be practiced, pursuing it as a priority. This clear admonition is part of a broader discourse of Jesus against the hypocrisy that prevents us from growing in humanity according to the original design of the Creator. Jesus goes to the heart of the problem, where disagreements and separations between man and God and between man and man are born and fester. Here is Jesus’s complete phrase, valid for his disciples of yesterday and today: “Do not let yourselves be called rabbi, for you have one teacher, and you are all brothers. And do not call anyone on earth your father, for you have one Father, the one in heaven. Nor are you to be called instructors, for you have one instructor, the Messiah. The greatest among you will be your servant. Those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted” (Mt 23:8-12).

Although the context of these words is not directly “Eucharistic,” it is not difficult to read them in light of the Eucharistic mystery, as the base document does, focusing on the purpose for which we celebrate the Eucharist, namely, that we “may form one body and one spirit in Christ” (Eucharistic Prayer III).

While the introduction is titled “A Dream of Fraternity,” the conclusion is titled “A Psalm of Fraternity.” Between the dream (desire, ideal, project, goal) and the psalm (praise, thanksgiving, prayer, commitment, experience) are the challenges to be faced, the openings to be cultivated, the conversions to be made, the paths to be traveled, the Eucharistic experience to be assimilated in the lives of believers and communities.

The introduction (nos. 1-11) presents the theme of the Congress, its objective, the call to fraternal living both within the Church, on a synodal journey, and in the current sociopolitical context, marked by fratricidal tensions witnessed from Ecuador to Latin America, through Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. We need the grace that comes from heaven and the commitment of all. The experience of wounds, both outside and within the human heart, goes back a long way; it is a reality from the origins. As disciples of Jesus, we believe that the Lord’s Easter, dead and risen, healed the original wound, involving us with him in the work of reconciliation of the entire universe. In this perspective, “this moment of grace, such as an Eucharistic Congress, allows us to rekindle the gift of God and the awareness of how all these peoples, embraced by the Eucharistic love that springs from the Heart of Christ, are brothers, children of the same Father, builders of fraternity. Fraternity among men, fraternity with creation” (no. 3).

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