Aparecida – Sao Paulo, Brazil (Wednesday, 04/15/2015, Gaudium Press) The 53rd General Assembly of the Brazilian Catholic Bishops Conference, will meet at the Padre Vitor Coelho de Almeida Center, in Aparecida, Sao Paulo, on Wednesday, Thursday, April 15, bringing together more than 400 religious, cardinals, archbishops, bishops, from 274 dioceses.

The event will start with an opening Mass at the National Shrine of Our Lady of Aparecida, to be presided by the Archbishop Raymundo Damasceno Assis, President of the Brazilian Catholic Bishops Conference and concelebrated by the Archbishop of São Luiz of Maranhão, His Excellency José Belisario da Silva, and the auxiliary bishop of Brasilia, His Excellency Leonardo Ulrich Steiner.

After the Eucharistic, the work of the first session will take place with the presentation of the appointed bishops to date, and the report of activities of the last four years, from 2011 to 2015.

In the afternoon, at 3pm, there will be a press conference, which will consider issues such as the General Guidelines of the CNBB and the body’s elections.

Then, at the plenary session which will start at 3:40 pm, a presentation on the Social Situation, followed by an update of the Ecclesial Scenario, to be presented by Monsignor Joel Portella Amado, of Rio de Janeiro.

Throughout this 53rd General Assembly of the CNBB, which will last till April 24, all participants will be responsible for updating the General Guidelines of the Church’s evangelizing action in Brazil (DGAE).

The pastoral guidelines, which have been approved in 2011, should be reviewed according to the Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium and the Pope’s speech to the bishops given in Rio de Janeiro, on July 2013.

In addition, this year, the bishops will have to elect the new President of the organization, as well as most of the delegates of the CNBB for the Latin American Episcopal Council (CELAM) and the XIV Synod of the Annual General Meeting of Bishops in October this year in the Vatican.

It is also on the agenda a discussion on the new text dealing with the participation of lay people, prepared after receiving suggestions and amendments. (LMI)

From the Editor’s Desk of Gaudium Press, with information from the CNBB