Popular religiousness in the Latin American Episcopal Conferences and in the Francisco Magisterium

Abstract

In this article I will give a description of Latin American popular religiosity, highlighting its approach in the Magisterium of the Church and in the Episcopal Conferences from Medellin to Aparecida. I will work off of the Magisterium of Pope Francis, especially from the guidelines that appear in Evangelii Gaudium on the topic. The same theological line of Cardinal Bergoglio, who was the Chairman of the Committee for the Drafting of the Final Document of Aparecida, is observed in his Magisterium based on the theology of the people. The Marian shrine of Aparecida marks a theological line, which we can perceive as the time of Mary. That place is a sign to highlight and remove from the anonymity of the Marian popular faith that has quietly grown and continues to spread, evangelizing itself in a very creative way. The Pope has captured this silent action in the hearts of the people who love and follow the Mother of God beyond the eclesial structures and the ecclesial institution. It is a challenge that sets the church in motion, breaking paradigms and opening doors, so that the Spirit may become flesh in the most unprotected and weakest that only have the Savior’s Mother as hope. Let us think of the thousands of faithful who come to the shrines asking for health, peace, work, food... on a continent that remains imprisoned in structures that produce more disadvantaged every day.