Latin American Episcopal Council (CELAM) congratulates Pope Francis

March 16, 2013: ‘We want to express, in this Year of Faith, our sincere affection and our loyalty to you’, stated the Latin American Episcopal Council (CELAM), in a letter sent to Pope Francis on his election. The letter was sent after a Meeting of the Bureau and Directive CELAM with the General Secretaries of twenty-two Bishops' Conferences of Latin America and the Caribbean in Bogota.

Applauding the election of Pope Francis, the letter said, ‘This fact has filled us with deep joy and thanksgiving to God for what it represents for the Universal Church, and especially for the pilgrim Churches in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Praying for the Pope, they entrusted him and his petrine ministry in the hands of Mary, Mother of the Church and Star of the New Evangelization. The bishops concluded their letter with seeking Pope Francis’s apostolic blessing for the Church in Latin America and the Caribbean.

The letter is signed by Carlos Aguiar Retes, Arzobispo de Tlalnepantla, México and President of CELAM; Dimas Lara Barbosa, Arzobispo de Campo Grande, Brasil, Segundo Vice President of CELAM; Santiago Silva Retamales, Obispo Auxiliar de Valparaíso, Chile
Secretary General of CELAM; and Carlos María Collazzi, SDB, Obispo de Mercedes, Uruguay, President of the Comité Económico CELAM.