The gift of the Eucharist helps us to become the body of Christ for others, Pope Francis said in a video message sent to the 2024 International Eucharistic Congress in Quito, Ecuador. Source: CNA.
The Eucharist teaches us how to have, the Pope said yesterday in his message recorded at the Vatican, “a profound brotherhood, born of union with God, born of allowing ourselves to be ground, like wheat, so that we can become bread, the body of Christ, thus participating fully in the Eucharist and in the assembly of the saints.”
The 53rd International Eucharistic Congress is taking place in Quito on September 8–15, in commemoration of the 150th anniversary of the country’s consecration to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
About 20,000 people from at least 40 countries are attending the congress. More than 1500 children made their first Communion during the opening Mass.
The theme of the congress is “Fraternity to Heal the World.”
Pope Francis’ message arrived in Quito, where the first National Eucharistic Congress was held in 1886, while he is in the midst of an 11-day journey to Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, East Timor, and Singapore.
In the video, he referenced the Church Fathers St Augustine of Hippo and St Ignatius of Antioch.
The Church Fathers told us, he said, “that the sign of bread kindles in the People of God the desire for fraternity, for just as bread cannot be kneaded from a single grain, so too must we walk together, for ‘though we are many, we are one body, one bread’”.
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Pope Francis to 2024 International Eucharistic Congress: The Eucharist teaches us fraternity (By Hannah Brockhaus, CNA)
