“Eucharist and Sacred Heart of Jesus”
Chronicle from Ávila
Cardinal Baltazar Porras Cardozo
Quito has earned the right to host the 53rd International Eucharistic Congress not as a gracious concession, but as the result of both distant and recent preparation that highlights the missionary zeal of the Church in Ecuador. Since the first congress was held in Lille, France, in 1881, it has journeyed around the world fifty-two times. The last one took place in Budapest (2021) amid the pandemic that ravaged the world. These gatherings have been among the most successful pastoral experiences concerning the centrality of the Eucharist, which is the driving force of Christian life in a secularized and lay world. It makes sense to rediscover the value of the transcendent and the deeper meaning of God made man as one of us, Jesus of Nazareth, becoming food and drink not easy to swallow. This was true from the beginning, as the Gospel of John reminds us in its sixth chapter.
Latin America has hosted the congresses on four occasions. The first was in 1934 in Buenos Aires, with Cardinal Eugenio Pacelli, the papal legate of Pope Pius XI, arriving aboard the Italian ship Conte Grande, escorted by six Argentine Navy vessels. Pacelli’s visit was seen as a reaffirmation of Rome within Argentine Catholicism. At the closing Mass, Pius XI addressed the assembly via radio message, invoking the Virgin of Luján and the Jesuit martyrs of Paraguay. The Eucharistic Congress garnered great acceptance from both the popular sectors and the elite and ruling class.
It wasn’t until 1955 that Latin America hosted the Eucharistic Congresses again. This time it was in Rio de Janeiro, presided over by Cardinal Adeodato Giovanni Piazza, OCD, the papal legate of Pope Pius XII, Secretary of the Sacred Consistorial Congregation and President of the Italian Episcopal Conference. Following this event, the creation of CELAM and CAL, the Commission for Latin America in the Vatican, marked a significant milestone in the ecclesial life of our continent.
1968, a notable year for the world, saw the first visit of a Pope to the new continent. Paul VI arrived in Bogotá and inaugurated the International Eucharistic Congress and the Second General Conference of the Latin American Episcopate, which took place in Medellín and focused on embracing Vatican II within our reality, pioneering in the world and offering the world insights into the ecclesial experience during a time when dictatorial regimes were dominant. The papal legate was Cardinal Giacomo Lercaro, Archbishop of Bologna and a leading conciliar father championing the aggiornamento of the Church.
It wasn’t until the beginning of the present century that Latin America hosted the 48th International Eucharistic Congress. Guadalajara, Mexico (2004), promoted “the Eucharist as light and life of the new millennium.” The papal legate of the elderly John Paul II was Cardinal Josef Tomko, Slovak, President of the Pontifical Committee for International Eucharistic Congresses. The current 53rd International Eucharistic Congress will be held in Quito from September 8 to 15, 2024, under the theme “Fraternity to Save the World.” I, the writer of these lines, have been appointed as papal legate.
Ecuador has a long history with the Eucharist and devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Five years after the first international congress in Lille (1881), the first national Eucharistic Congress was held in Quito on the occasion of the second centenary of the worship of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, under the patronage of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, Saint Joseph, and Saint Rose of Lima, during the pontificate of the sixth Archbishop of Quito, Monsignor José Ignacio Ordóñez.
The second National Eucharistic Congress was also held in Quito (1949), to mark the first centenary of the creation of the Archdiocese of Quito and the 75th anniversary of Ecuador’s consecration to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. It was presided over by Archbishop Carlos María Javier de la Torre y Nieto, who would become Ecuador’s first cardinal in 1953. The papal legate was Monsignor Efrén Forni, Apostolic Nuncio in Ecuador. At the closing, a radio message from Pope Pius XII was heard.
The third National Eucharistic Congress took place in Guayaquil (1958), with the papal legate being the elderly Cardinal Carlos María de la Torre, on the occasion of Guayaquil’s elevation to an archdiocese. The themes were the Eucharist and the family, the Eucharist as a source of energy in Christian and patriotic formation of youth, and the Eucharist and social issues. Bishops from various countries on the continent were present. Again, just days before the death of Pope Pius XII, the radio message sent by the Supreme Pontiff was heard.
Cuenca hosted the fourth National Eucharistic Congress (1967), with German Cardinal Julius August Döpfner, Archbishop of Munich, as papal legate. The Archbishop of the city, Manuel de Jesús Serrano Abad, promoted a nationwide Eucharistic Mission and a total renewal of life in Christ and through Christ. Pope Paul VI sent a radio message encouraging and congratulating the participants for their intensive preparatory days. At the closing, the cathedral was consecrated to the Immaculate Virgin Mary.
Guayaquil was again the venue for the Fifth National Eucharistic Congress (1988), under the theme “with Mary to Christ, the Bread of Life come down from heaven.” The envoy of Pope John Paul II was Cardinal Eduardo Martínez Somalo, Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship. Archbishop Bernardino Echeverría Ruiz, OFM, who would later be promoted to the cardinalate, was the enthusiastic promoter of the congress. In his message, Pope John Paul II asked that the Church in Ecuador “confirm itself as a Church committed to the new evangelization to which all of Latin America is called in preparation for the Fifth Centenary of the arrival of the saving message to the new world.”
With such a long ecclesial experience, Ecuador, a Eucharistic country consecrated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus since 1874, is dressed in its finest to host the 53rd International Eucharistic Congress from September 8 to 15. From the center of the world in our Latin American continent, we will join the apostolic journey of Pope Francis to the antipodes, the extreme East, where Catholicism is present as a minority under difficult conditions, to preach that fraternity in Christ is an offer of salvation for the entire world.
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