Puebla (1979) and Aparecida (2007): Mary in the evangelization of Latin America

The Conferences of the Latin American Episcopate, Medellín (1968), Puebla (1979), Santo Domingo (1992), and especially Aparecida (2007), devoted significant Mariological sections that make up the most elaborate synthesis of inculturated Mariology on the American continent. The Aparecida document in particular, which was presided over by Benedict XVI and influenced by the then Cardinal Bergoglio (the future Pope Francis), is the fundamental Mariological reference of Pope Francis.

The Puebla document (1979), Third General Conference

The Third General Conference of the Latin American Episcopate in Puebla (Mexico, January 27 – February 13, 1979), presided over by the newly elected John Paul II, devoted nn. 282-303 to Mary under the title “Holy Mary, Mother of the Church”. The perspective is markedly Latin American:

“In Latina América, Maria amatur sub multis nominibus: Guadalupe Mexicana, Caridad del Cobre Cubana, Aparecida Brasilense, Lujan Argentina, Cosita Linda Venezuelana, Veracruz Boliviana. Hi tituli marianos non separant nos, revelantque diversitate culturarum unitatem fidei in qua Maria omnium populorum Mater est”

In Latin America, Mary is loved under many names: the Mexican Guadalupe, the Cuban Caridad del Cobre, the Brazilian Aparecida, the Argentine Lujan, the Venezuelan Cosita Linda, the Bolivian Veracruz. These Marian titles do not separate us; they reveal, in the diversity of cultures, the unity of the faith in which Mary is Mother of all peoples.

Mary and “Popular religiosity”

Puebla introduced into Latin American magisterial theology the concept of “popular religiosity” (pietas populi), which would be taken up and developed by Aparecida and by Francis in Evangelii Gaudium. Popular Marian devotion, pilgrimages, novenas, pilgrimage festivals, is considered an authentic expression of the faith of the people, not a superstitious residue to be purged.

The Aparecida document (2007), Fifth General Conference

The Fifth General Conference of the Latin American and Caribbean Episcopate (Aparecida, Brazil, May 13-31, 2007), presided over by Benedict XVI and having as its principal drafter Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio (the future Francis), is the most developed Latin American Mariological document. Nn. 264-272 are devoted to Mary.

“Maria, in nobiscum esto, Mater América Latina! Tu nos demonstras quomodo populus pauper et nudus, sed cum cor accendens fide, possit cum Iesu in vitam novam transeundo. Maria, Mater Americae Latinae et Caribaei, esto pro nobis exemplum et adiutrix in itinere ad Christum Salvatorem”

Mary, stay with us, Mother of Latin America! You show us how a poor and naked people, but with a heart burning with faith, can pass with Jesus into new life. Mary, Mother of Latin America and the Caribbean, be for us an example and a help on the way to Christ the Savior.

The “Continent of hope”

Aparecida presents Latin America as the “Continent of Hope,” under Marian patronage. Mary is not merely popular devotion; she is the theological sign that God is with the poor, with the little ones, with those who have no voice on the world geopolitical stage.

Missionary discipleship

Aparecida’s key concept, “missionary discipleship,” is developed in a Marian key: Mary is the first “missionary disciple”:

• Disciple of the Word (Lk 1:38)
• Missionary of the Good News (Visitation to Elizabeth, Lk 1:39)
• Mother of the missionary Church (Pentecost, Acts 1:14)

Aparecida and Pope Francis

The text of Aparecida was almost entirely drafted under the coordination of Cardinal Bergoglio. When he was elected Pope in 2013, many saw in Evangelii Gaudium a “universal application” of the Aparecida document. Francis’s Marian theology, Mary the close mother, Mary Undoer of Knots, Mary mother of the people, has its direct matrix here.

Inculturated Mariology vs. universal Mariology

The Latin American documents theologically resolve a classic tension:

• Universal Mariology: Mary as dogma of the universal Church (Theotokos, Immaculate Conception, Assumption)
• Inculturated Mariology: Mary as Guadalupe, Aparecida, Caridad del Cobre, incarnate in local cultures

The solution: the two dimensions do not contradict each other; universal Mariology becomes incarnate in local cultures, and the popular titles are legitimate manifestations of the one Mother of God.

Further reading

Mariology | Evangelii Gaudium | Marian Apparitions | Marialis Cultus | Amoris Laetitia