Guatemala City, Guatemala, Nov 25, 2003 / 22:00 pm
More than 3,000 people are gathered together since Tuesday in Guatemala to open the II American Mission Congress (CAM 2), a unique Church event on this continent.
CAM 2 will begin this afternoon when visitors from 37 countries, cardinals, bishops, priests, religious and representatives of other continents, will proceed towards the John Paul II Auditorium with the popular devotional images of Christ and the Virgin of Guadalupe, which have been venerated in the dioceses of Central America during the Missionary Holy Year. At three o’clock in the afternoon, Cardinal Crescencio Sepe, Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, will preside at the inaugural ceremony of the Congress and read a message prepared by Pope John Paul II for the occasion.
According to local press reports, the message expresses the Pope’s desire that the laity of the continent grown in Christian spirit and commit themselves will all of their strength to the work of evangelization.
Congress participants will have the chance to spend time in Eucharistic adoration, which will be taking place throughout the event.