Vatican City, Feb 24, 2009 / 09:37 am
Every year the Pontifical Commission for Latin America celebrates Hispanic-American Day, which this year falls on March 1. This year, Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re and Archbishop Octavio Ruiz Arenas are calling on Latin Americans to redouble their commitment to evangelization as the continent is undergoing a "crisis of faith."
The Hispanic-American Day celebration is held annually in the dioceses of Spain to celebrate the ties established by the first evangelization between Spain and Latin America. Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re and Archbishop Octavio Ruiz Arenas, respectively president and vice president of the commission, have penned a message to help people live out this year’s theme: "America with Christ. Live the mission."
The theme, the two clergymen write, highlights "two intimately related questions. On the one hand it reminds us of the call to go out into the world to 'make disciples' of Jesus; on the other it reaffirms a conviction that has its foundation in the Master's promise: 'I am with you always, to the end of the age'."
"At the present time Latin America needs to recover and reaffirm the Christian values that lie at the root of its culture and traditions," they say. "There is an urgent necessity to bring the light of the Gospel to public, cultural, economic and political life."