Depiction of Mary in the documents of the Latin American Episcopal Council after the Second Vatican Council.

Dariusz Gardocki SJ

Papieski Wydział Teologiczny w Warszawie – Collegium Bobolanum

Abstract

The present article takes as analyses from a mariological perspective of documents prepared by the Latin American Episcopal Council after the Second Vatican Council during the conferences from Medellín (1968) to Aparecida (2007). This text presents which images of Mary are present, preferred and accented in the CELAM documents, what is and how exactly the updating of Mariology teaching in the Latin American Church is done and how the existing situation on the Latin American continent has an impact on presenting in a different way the person and role of Mary in the life of the Church. Firstly, Mariology of the Second Vatican Council is presented. Subsequently the points discussed are concerned with the images of Mary and the teaching of the Latin American Episcopal Council on Mary contained in its documents. These documents emphasise and demonstrate the important role Mary has played in the life of the Latin American Church. This applies not only to the first evangelisation that began with the arrival of colonisers and missionaries on the Latin American continent, but also to the works of the new evangelisation undertaken today by the Church in Latin America and the Caribbean. In these documents reflection on Mary is captured in the light of the mystery of Christ and the Church, which is according to the perspective outlined by the Second Vatican Council. These documents are at the same time an example of a creative development and application of the teaching about Mary of this Council to the Latin American reality. This creative development is the result, inter alia, of the CELAM Conferences of what the Church teaches about Mary from the perspective of the faith and Marian devotion of the Latin American Church and the people living in Latin America. As a result the Church’s teaching about Mary in the Church of Latin America and the Caribbean are brought up to date.

Keywords:

Mariology, Second Vatican Council, Medellín, Puebla, Santo Domingo, Aparecida