The Pontifical Commission for Latin America is a body of the Holy See established to evaluate and assist with issues related to the Catholic Church in Latin America. Its principal responsibility is to remain available to the particular Churches in Latin America through counsel and action, taking a keen interest in questions that affect their life and progress.
The Commission helps Latin American Churches address pastoral and institutional challenges and assists other departments of the Roman Curia whose competence involves the region. Its work has included priestly formation, evangelization, immigration, poverty, globalization, Hispanic ministry in North America, the public role of lay people and the participation of women in the life and mission of the Church.
Establishment and historical development
On 19 April 1958, Pope Pius XII established the Pontifical Commission for Latin America with the purpose of evaluating and assisting with issues related to the Catholic Church in Latin America. It operates under the Congregation of Bishops.
The Commission was created in response to the specific pastoral, social and ecclesial circumstances of Latin America. Its existence reflects the Holy See’s recognition that the Churches of the region require sustained attention, coordination and assistance in addressing questions that affect their life and progress.
Pope John Paul II defined the present responsibilities of the Commission in Article 83 of the Apostolic Constitution on the Roman Curia, Pastor Bonus, as “to be available to the particular Churches in Latin America, by counsel and by action, taking a keen interest in the questions that affect the life and progress of those Churches; and especially to help the Churches themselves in the solution of those questions, or to be helpful to those dicasteries of the Curia that are involved by reason of their competence.”
Position within the Roman Curia
Pontifical councils operate on the fourth tier of the holy see's governing structure. They have within their competence special functions in connection to ecclesial life that the pope deems to be of primary importance.
As such, they carry out their duties in an official capacity in the pope's name and by his authority (CIC, c. 360). At the end of the 20th century there were 11 pontifical councils, all of which fell under the regulations of Pastor bonus, the 1988 apostolic constitution of Pope John Paul II that reorganized the Roman curia.
All the pontifical councils are led by a cardinal or archbishop who takes title of the office of president (Pastor bonus I, a. 3, §§1). They are assisted typically by a secretary and undersecretary.
Members are usually selected from the episcopate; consultors and professional staff are employed to assist in the work of each council. Lay participation is permitted on all councils, though clerics continue to dominate.
Each dicastery may issue norms relative to its field of competence or may join with other curial bodies in issuing joint statements of mutual concern. The councils meet on a regular basis, sometimes in plenary assembly.
Membership on each of the councils is by term appointment or at the pleasure of the Holy Father. Many of the pontifical councils are housed in offices located in the St. Callixtus complex in Rome's Trastevere neighborhood.
Core responsibilities
The Commission’s mandate combines study, pastoral support, coordination and advice. It examines questions affecting the Catholic Church in Latin America, encourages appropriate responses and helps connect the particular Churches of the region with the relevant offices of the Holy See.
- Evaluating issues related to the Catholic Church in Latin America.
- Assisting the particular Churches of Latin America through counsel and action.
- Taking a keen interest in questions affecting the life and progress of those Churches.
- Helping the Churches themselves in the solution of those questions.
- Assisting dicasteries of the Roman Curia involved by reason of their competence.
- Addressing pastoral and social questions such as priestly formation, evangelization, immigration, poverty and globalization.
- Supporting reflection on the role of lay people in the public life of Latin American countries.
- Maintaining attention to the Church’s mission in Latin America and to Hispanic communities in North America.
The Commission’s role is therefore not limited to a single pastoral subject. It provides a framework for considering the region’s ecclesial life as a whole, including formation, evangelization, migration, social exclusion, public participation, poverty and the effects of globalization.
Leadership and institutional relationships
The president of the Commission is the Prefect of the Congregation of Bishops, presently this is Giovanni Cardinal Re.
The Commission’s relationship with the Congregation of Bishops is significant because the Congregation is directly connected with the appointment and pastoral oversight of bishops and with the life of particular Churches. The Commission’s work consequently involves cooperation with the wider structures of the Holy See rather than functioning as an isolated body.
Its responsibilities also intersect with the work of other curial departments when questions affecting Latin America fall within their areas of competence. The Commission can therefore serve as a point of coordination between regional realities and the specialized responsibilities of the Roman Curia.
Principal areas of activity
Priestly formation
One of the topics in which the Commission has been involved is priestly formation in Latin America.
This area concerns the preparation of priests for service in Churches shaped by different cultural, social and geographical circumstances. It also relates to the capacity of pastoral leaders to respond to poverty, migration, urbanization, cultural change and the particular religious traditions of Latin American communities.
Evangelization
Evangelization is another central area of the Commission’s work. In Latin America, evangelization is connected not only with the proclamation of the Gospel but also with the formation of communities, the preservation of popular religious traditions and the Church’s presence in public and social life.
A very interesting phenomenon has happened in our Latin America and I dare to say: I believe it was one of the few areas where the People of God was sovereign of the influence of clericalism: I am referring to the popular pastoral.
It has been one of the few areas where the people (including its Pastors) and the Holy Spirit have been able to meet without that clericalism that seeks to control and brake God’s unction on His own.
We know that the popular pastoral, as Paul VI well wrote in the Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Nuntiandi, certainly has its limits. It is frequently exposed to many deformations of religion, but it continues, when it is well orientated, especially through a pedagogy of evangelization,
It reflects a thirst for God that only the poor and the simple can experience. It makes possible generosity and sacrifice to the point of heroism, when it comes to manifesting the faith.
It entails a deep sense of God’s profound attributes: His paternity, providence, and loving and constant presence. It engenders interior attitudes that can rarely be observed in the same degree in those who do not have that religiosity: patience, sense of the cross in daily life, detachment, acceptance of others, devotion.
Taking these aspects into account, we gladly call it “popular piety,” that is, religion of the people, rather than religiosity … Well oriented, this popular religiosity can be increasingly, for our popular masses, a true encounter with God in Jesus Christ (EN 48).
Pope Paul VI uses an expression that I consider key, the faith of our people, its orientations, searches, desire, longings, when we are able to hear them and orientate us, end by manifesting a genuine presence of the Spirit.
Let us trust our People, in their memory and their “intuition,” let us trust that the Holy Spirit acts in and with them, and that this Spirit is not only the “property” of the ecclesial hierarchy.
Immigration and human mobility
Immigration is among the subjects in which the Commission has been involved. The issue is especially important in a region characterized by movement across national borders, internal migration, exile, displacement and the search for work and security.
The wider Roman Curia has also treated human mobility as a distinct pastoral concern. Pope Pius XII drew attention in 1952 to a pressing pastoral need that had been fomenting throughout the aftermath of World War II, namely, the plight of the emigrant.
The apostolic constitution Exsul familia (1952) established both the Superior Council for Emigration and the Work of the Apostleship of the Sea within the Consistorial Congregation, now known as the Congregation for Bishops.
In 1969, at the request of the Congregation for Bishops, Paul VI updated his predecessor's creations and the following year established a single entity with his motu proprio Apostolicae caritatis (March 19, 1970), calling it the Pontifical Commission for the Spiritual Care of Migrants and Travelers.
This commission embraced all those pastoral ministries regarding human mobility: migrants, exiles, refugees, seafarers, air travel personnel and passengers, nomads, pilgrims, and tourists. To these were later added gypsies and "circus people."
With Pastor bonus the commission was raised to the dignity of a pontifical council.
Poverty and social inequality
Poverty is another major topic associated with the Commission’s activities. The Church’s response to poverty involves pastoral accompaniment, social teaching, solidarity and attention to the dignity of people living in difficult circumstances.
Today many of our cities have become real places of survival. Places where the disposable culture seems to be installed and leaves little room for apparent hope.
We find our brothers there, immersed in those struggles, with their families, trying, not only to survive, but who, in the midst of contradictions and injustices, seek the Lord and want to witness this.
What does it mean for us,Pastors, that the laity is working in public life? It means to seek a way to be able to encourage, accompany and stimulate all their attempts and efforts, which already today are carried out, to keep hope and faith alive in a world full of contradictions especially for the poorest, especially with the poorest.
It means that, as Pastors, we must be committed in the midst of our people and, with our people, sustain their faith and their hope - opening doors, working with them, dreaming with them, reflecting and especially praying with them.
Globalization
Globalization is also among the issues in which the Commission has been involved. Its consequences affect economic life, migration, cultural identity, social organization and the ability of local communities to protect their traditions and pursue development.
The Commission’s regional perspective allows questions of globalization to be considered in relation to the particular experiences of Latin American Churches and communities. Such questions may involve the situation of the poorest, the formation of new urban cultures, the public responsibilities of lay people and the need for forms of pastoral organization adapted to changing circumstances.
The public role of lay people
On March 4, Pope Francis received in audience the participants in the Plenary Assembly of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, at the end of their assembly dedicated to the “indispensable role of the lay faithful in the public life of Latin American countries.”
Afterwards, the Pope sent a Letter to the President of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America, H. E. Cardinal Marc Ouellet, P.S.S.
At the end of the meeting of the Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, I had the opportunity to meet with all the participants of the assembly, where ideas and impressions were exchanged on the public participation of the laity in the life of our nations.
I would like to take up what was shared in that instance and continue through this means the reflection lived in those days so that the spirit of discernment and reflection “will not fall on deaf ears,” that it help us and continue to stimulate us to serve better the Holy People faithful of God.
It is precisely from this image that I would like to begin our reflection on the public activity of the laity in our Latin American context.
To evoke the Holy People faithful of God is to evoke the horizon to which we are invited to look and from whence to reflect. The Holy People faithful of God is that which we as Pastors are continually invited to look at, protect, accompany, support and serve.
A father is not understood on his own without his children. He might be a very good worker, professional, husband, friend but what makes him a father has a face: it is his children.
The same happens with us, we are Pastors. A Pastor is not conceived without a flock, which he is called to serve.
The Pastor is Pastor of a people, and the people are served from within. Often one goes forward indicating the path, at other times behind so that no one is left behind, and not infrequently one is in the middle to hear well the people’s palpitation.
The People of God and pastoral discernment
To look at the Holy People faithful of God and to feel an integral part of them positions us in life and, therefore, in the subjects we address in a different way.
This helps us not to fall into reflections that can be very good in themselves but that end up by functionalizing the life of our people or theorizing so much that speculation ends by killing action.
To look continually at the People of God saves us from certain slogans that are beautiful phrases but which do not succeed in supporting the life of our communities.
For instance, I remember now the famous expression: “it’s the time of the laity,” but it seems that the clock has stopped.
To look at the People of God is to remember that we all entered the Church as lay people. The first Sacrament, the one that seals our identity forever and of which we should always be proud is Baptism.
By it and with the anointing of the Holy Spirit, (the faithful) are consecrated as spiritual house and holy priesthood (LG) 10).
Our first and fundamental consecration sinks its roots in our Baptism. No priest or Bishop has baptized anyone.
Lay people have baptized us and it is the indelible sign that no one will ever be able to eliminate.
It does us good to remember that the Church is not an elite of priests, of the consecrated, of the Bishops, but we all form part of the Holy People faithful of God.
To forget this brings in its train various risks and deformations both in our own personal as well as in communal living of the ministry that the Church has entrusted to us.
We are, as Vatican Council II well points out, the People of God, whose identity is the dignity and the freedom of the children of God, in whose hearts dwells the Holy Spirit as in a temple (LG) 9).
The Holy People faithful of God is anointed with the grace of the Holy Spirit; therefore, when it comes to reflecting, thinking, evaluating, discerning we must be very attentive to this unction.
Opposition to clericalism
At the same time, I must add another element that I consider fruit of a bad living of the ecclesiology posed by Vatican II. We cannot reflect on the subject of the laity ignoring one of the strongest deformations that Latin America must address - and to which I ask for your special attention - clericalism.
This attitude not only annuls the personality of Christians, but it has a tendency to diminish and devalue the Baptismal grace that the Holy Spirit put in the heart of our people.
Clericalism leads to the functionalization of the laity, treating them as “messengers,” restricts different initiatives and efforts and I even dare to say the necessary boldness to be able to take the Good News of the Gospel to all the ambits of the social and especially political endeavor.
Far from stimulating the different contributions, proposals, little by little clericalism extinguishes the prophetic fire that the Church is called to witness in the heart of her peoples.
Clericalism forgets that the visibility and sacramentality of the Church belongs to the whole People of God (cf. LG 9-14), and not just to a few chosen and enlightened.
Lay people in public and daily life
Then, from here, we can ask ourselves, what does it mean that the laity is working in public life?
It is never the Pastor who tells the layman what he must do or say; they know it better than we do. It is not the Pastor that must determine what the faithful must say in the different realms.
As Pastors, united to our people, it is good for us to ask how we are stimulating and promoting charity and fraternity, the desire of the good, of the truth and of justice.
What we can do so that corruption does not nest in our hearts.
We have often fallen into the temptation of thinking that the committed layman is one who works in the tasks of the Church and/or in the things of the parish or of the diocese, and we have reflected little on how to accompany a baptized person in his public and daily life; like him, in his daily task, with the responsibilities he has he commits himself as a Christian in public life.
Without realizing it, we have generated a lay elite, believing that only they are committed laymen who work in the things “of the priests,” and we haver forgotten, neglected the believer who often burns his hope in the daily struggle to live the faith.
These are the situations that clericalism cannot see, as it is more concerned to dominate areas more than to generate processes.
The laity is part of the Holy People faithful of God and, therefore, the protagonists of the Church and of the world, to which we are called to serve and not to make use of.
Urban life, new cultures and inculturation
We need to recognize the city - and hence all the areas where the life of our people unfolds - from a contemplative look, a look of faith that discovers the God that dwells in their homes, in their streets, in their squares … He lives among the citizens promoting charity, fraternity, the desire of the good, of truth, of justice.
That presence must not be fabricated but discovered, revealed. God does not hide from those that seek Him with a sincere heart. (EG 71).
Therefore, we must recognize that the layman, because of his own reality, his own identity, his being immersed in the heart of social, public and political life, his being in the midst of new cultural forms continually gestated, is in need of new forms of organization and of the celebration of the faith.
The present-day rhythms are so different (I do not say better or worse) from those lived 30 years ago!
This requires imagining areas of prayer and communion with novel, more attractive and significant characteristics - especially - for urban inhabitants. (EG 73).
It is obvious, and even impossible, to think that we, as Pastors, should have the monopoly of the solutions for the multiple challenges that contemporary life presents to us.
On the contrary, we must be at the side of our people, accompanying them in their searches and stimulating an imagination capable of responding to present-day problems.
And we do so by discerning with our people and never for our people or without our people.
As Saint Ignatius would say, “ according to the places, times and persons,” that is, not standardizing.
General directives cannot be given for the organization of the People of God within their public life.
Inculturation is a process that we Pastors are called to stimulate, encouraging the people to live their faith where they are and with whom they are.
Inculturation is to learn to discover how a determined portion of the people of today, in the here and now of history, lives, celebrates and proclaims its faith, with its particular idiosyncrasy and in keeping with the problems it must address, as well as all the reasons it has to celebrate.
Inculturation is a work of artisans and not a factory of serial production of processes that are dedicated to “to fabricate Christian worlds or areas.”
Memory, family and popular faith
We are asked to take care of two memories of our people: the memory of Jesus Christ and the memory of our forbearers.
We have received the faith; it is a gift that has come to us in many cases from the hands of our mothers, of our grandmothers.
They have been the living memory of Jesus Christ in the heart of our homes. It was in the silence of family life where the majority of us learned to pray, to love and to live the faith.
It was within family life, which afterwards took the form of parish, school, communities, that faith came to our life, becoming flesh.
It was also that simple faith that has often accompanied us in the different ups and downs of the path.
To lose the memory is to be uprooted from where we come and, therefore, we will not know either where we are going.
This is key, when we uproot a layman from his faith, from that of his origins; when we uproot him from the Holy People faithful of God, we uproot him from his Baptismal identity and thus deprive him of the grace of the Holy Spirit.
The same happens to us, when as pastors we uproot ourselves from our people, we lose ourselves.
Our role, our joy, the joy of the Pastor lies precisely in helping and stimulating, as many did before us, whether mothers, grandmothers or parents - the real protagonists of history.
Not by a concession of ours of good will, but by proper right and statute.
Recent public activities and areas of reflection
Pastoral attention to families and drug addiction
The pontiff met on Aug. 27 with participants of a conference promoted by the Pontifical Commission for Latin America.
The meeting addressed the relationship between family life and the prevention of drug addiction. The central pastoral concern was expressed in the view that a good family is the best way to prevent drug addiction.
Our Lady of Guadalupe and Latin American identity
A Vatican conference considered Our Lady of Guadalupe in light of a doctrinal note on titles of Mary.
At the conclusion of the conference, Mass in honor of Our Lady of Guadalupe took place at 4 p.m. local time in St. Peter’s Basilica, celebrated by Pope Leo XIV.
Hispanic ministry in North America
In a video message, Pope Francis encouraged the Pontifical Commission for Latin America to continue its mission at the service of the Church in Latin American Church and of Hispanic.
This activity reflects the Commission’s connection not only with Churches located geographically in Latin America but also with Hispanic communities and pastoral concerns in North America.
The role of women in the Church
The Pontifical Commission for Latin America has proposed that Pope Francis convoke a synod on the role of women in the life and mission of the Church.
This initiative places women’s participation within the wider process of reflection on the Church’s mission, leadership, public witness and pastoral life in Latin America.
Direct papal engagement
After a trip to the dentist Wednesday, Pope Francis made the spontaneous decision to stop by the Pontifical Commission for Latin America a visit one official says demonstrates his close pastoral.
The visit illustrated the direct relationship that can exist between the Pope and the Commission in the exercise of its regional pastoral mission.
Relationship with wider pontifical structures
The Commission’s work is best understood alongside the broader system of pontifical bodies that developed during the 20th century and were reorganized by Pastor bonus.
Some, such as the Pontifical Council for the Laity and the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of Christian Unity, emerged directly from commissions established to participate in the Second Vatican Council.
Other dicasteries were shaped by Pope Paul's apostolic constitution Regimini Ecclesiae universae (Aug. 15, 1967) which established norms for the implementation of the conciliar decrees during an "experimental period" in which the local churches would seek ways to adapt to the new situation created by the Second Vatican Council.
Pope John Paul II has established several pontifical councils either as entirely new entities (Health Care, Legislative Texts, Culture) or by raising already established secretariats or commissions to the dignity of a pontifical council (Christian Unity, Family, Justice and Peace, Migrants and Itinerant Peoples, Social Communications).
Connections with the Pontifical Council for Culture
The Pontifical Council for Culture’s main tasks are to bring the gospel into diverse cultures and seek ways to enliven those in the sciences, letters, and arts through the Church's sustained interest in their work "in the service of truth, goodness, and beauty."
As such, this dicastery coordinates the activities of the pontifical academies and cooperates on a regular basis with the Pontifical Commission for the Cultural Heritage of the Church.
These responsibilities complement the Commission for Latin America’s attention to popular culture, inculturation, historical memory and the forms through which faith is lived in the region.
Connections with the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace
The council's raison d'etre is to promote peace and justice in the world according to the gospel and the social doctrine of the Church.
It is principally concerned with labor and human rights and frequently collaborates with other organizations, not necessarily affiliated with the Church, who share common goals.
These themes overlap with the Commission’s concern for poverty, inequality, public participation and the responsibilities of Christians in social and political life.
Connections with charitable and humanitarian structures
The Pontifical Council "Cor Unum" is concerned with understanding the demands of solidarity and development and enacting them according to the principles of the gospel.
The council promotes the catechesis of charity and stimulates the faithful to bear witness to it, coordinates initiatives of those Catholic institutions that help the less fortunate, helps promote a more just distribution of aid in times of disasters, and acts as a go-between with Catholic charitable and humanitarian organizations.
In 1992, the Holy Father also founded the Populorum Progressio Foundation, which is at the service of indigenous, racially mixed, Afro-American, and campesinos of Latin America and the Caribbean.
Regional ecclesial paths in the Amazon
The experience of the disciple and missionary Church in the geographical, ecosystemic, spiritual and socio-cultural Pan-Amazonian territory represents unprecedented ecclesial paths in the commitment to the peripheries.
The ecclesial role has been (to say the least and in spite of its many limitations and errors) decisive in many ways for this territory.
The many testimonies of faith and dedication of missionary women and men, religious and lay people give an account of a pastoral experience of inculturation and interculturality that became a reality and have made a difference in the lives of so many indigenous, mestizo and riverine communities in the Amazon.
These experiences are a source of hope in the midst of the undesirable realities resulting from the dominating and subjugating model predominant in the world, which is far from the desire of the Gospel for all peoples to have a full and dignified life.
The Amazon University Program
During 2020 and part of 2021, under the coordination of Mauricio López (current director of PUAM), a working commission was formed with people specialized in the subject and territorial referents with experience in higher education in the Amazon.
After a pause, in March 2022, when Cardinal Hummes concluded his service as president of CEAMA due to his delicate health condition, and following his mandate, Cardinal Pedro Barreto, who was elected president of CEAMA, asked the current Director to resume the process of founding and directing the Amazon University Program, preparing a proposal of identity, conceptual, objectives and structure, as a commission from his role as one of the vice presidents of CEAMA.
Finally, after an initial construction process, in August 2022, with the intense work of the initial PUAM team, representatives of the Amazonian territory, higher education institutions and the Catholic Church, as well as fraternal organizations, gathered at the facilities of the Pontifical Catholic University of Ecuador (Quito), developed a workshop to contribute to the PUAM proposal and its consolidation based on various territorial and institutional experiences.
The Amazonian experience illustrates the importance of regional cooperation, participation by local communities, higher education, interculturality and forms of Church life adapted to particular territories.
Distinction from other Vatican commissions
The Pontifical Commission for Latin America should not be confused with the Pontifical Commission for the Cultural Heritage of the Church, whose Latin title is Pontificia Commissio de Bonis Culturalibus Ecclesiae.
The Pontifical Commission for the Cultural Heritage of the Church was founded in 1988-06-28.
Its aim is to care for and conserve the artistic and historic heritage created by the Catholic Church worldwide, in particular: (i) art - paintings, architecture, sculpture, museums of Christian art; (ii) Church archives; (iii) ecclesiastical libraries.
Its subject areas include archives, libraries, arts, religion, history, culture, museums, Catholicism and heritage.
The two commissions differ in mandate: the Commission for Latin America focuses on the life, progress and pastoral needs of the Catholic Churches in Latin America, while the Commission for the Cultural Heritage of the Church focuses on the preservation of the Church’s artistic and historic heritage worldwide.
Activities in the life of the Church
The Commission’s activities combine institutional consultation with pastoral reflection. Its work can include plenary assemblies, meetings with the Pope, regional conferences, consideration of proposals and attention to challenges emerging from the social and ecclesial life of Latin America.
During these activities, the Commission has considered how the Church can accompany people without replacing their responsibility, how pastoral structures can respond to urban life and how the faith of local communities can be recognized as a source of ecclesial wisdom.
It is obvious, and even impossible, to think that we, as Pastors, should have the monopoly of the solutions for the multiple challenges that contemporary life presents to us.
On the contrary, we must be at the side of our people, accompanying them in their searches and stimulating an imagination capable of responding to present-day problems.
And we do so by discerning with our people and never for our people or without our people.
Subjects associated with the Commission
| Field | Relevance to the Commission’s work |
|---|---|
| Priestly formation | Preparation of pastoral leaders for the needs of Latin American Churches |
| Evangelization | Proclamation of the Gospel, popular pastoral activity and inculturation |
| Immigration | Pastoral attention to migrants and people affected by human mobility |
| Poverty | Attention to social exclusion, the poorest and the pursuit of a dignified life |
| Globalization | Reflection on economic, cultural and social changes affecting communities |
| Public life | Participation of the laity in social, civic and political realities |
| Family life | Pastoral reflection on family support and the prevention of social problems |
| Women’s participation | Consideration of the role of women in the life and mission of the Church |
| Amazonian communities | Inculturation, interculturality, education and ecclesial commitment to the peripheries |
Ecclesial principles guiding its mission
The Commission’s regional mission is shaped by the principle that the Church serves the People of God rather than treating them as passive recipients of decisions.
It is never the Pastor who tells the layman what he must do or say; they know it better than we do.
As Pastors, united to our people, it is good for us to ask how we are stimulating and promoting charity and fraternity, the desire of the good, of the truth and of justice.
General directives cannot be given for the organization of the People of God within their public life.
Inculturation is a process that we Pastors are called to stimulate, encouraging the people to live their faith where they are and with whom they are.
Inculturation is a work of artisans and not a factory of serial production of processes that are dedicated to “to fabricate Christian worlds or areas.”
These principles help explain why the Commission’s responsibilities extend beyond administrative coordination. Its role involves listening to regional Churches, recognizing local forms of faith, supporting pastoral initiative and encouraging responses suited to particular places, times and people.
Vatican, March 19, 2016 FRANCIS [Original text: Spanish] [Translation by ZENIT]
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