Several churches in the historic center of Quito celebrated masses in different languages this Thursday as a sign of the universality of the Catholic Church, within the framework of the International Eucharistic Congress that takes place in the capital of Ecuador until Sunday, September 15.
In total there were fourteen temples from the historic center and three from other areas of Quito. In addition to Spanish, the Eucharistic consecrations were pronounced in Latin, Quichua, English, French, Chinese, German and Italian.
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The masses in Spanish were in the Metropolitan Cathedral, the church of San Francisco, the Basilica of the National Vow and the monasteries of El Carmen Alto, El Carmen Bajo, Santa Clara, Inmaculada Concepción and Santa Catalina de Siena. There was also a Eucharist in Afro Spanish in the church of San José Calderón.
The bishops who celebrated them were the papal legate, Cardinal Baltazar Porras; the Bishop of Orihuela-Alicante (Spain), Mons. José Ignacio Munilla; the Archbishop of Panama, Mons. José Domingo Ulloa; the Auxiliary Bishop of Santo Domingo (Dominican Republic), Mons. José Amable Durán; the Archbishop-elect of Caracas (Venezuela), Mons. Raúl Biord Castillo; and the Bishop of Saitama (Japan), Mons. Michiaki Yamanouchi. In Afro Spanish, the Archbishop of Brazzaville (Rep. of the Congo), Bishop Bienvenu Manamika, presided over the Eucharist.
The mass in Quichua was celebrated by the Bishop of Tulcán, Mons. Carlos Yépez, in the María Auxiliadora church of El Girón; in German, in the German parish; French in the Miracle Chapel; Italian in the church of the Company of Jesus; Chinese in the church of San Agustín and Portuguese in the Basilica of Our Lady of Mercy.
The masses in several languages have been “to express precisely the universality of the Eucharistic Congress, because this is an international Eucharistic Congress,” Father Juan Carlos Váscones, Press Director of the Quito 2024 Congress, explained to ACI Prensa.
To celebrate these liturgies, prelates from other countries participated, such as Mons. Josef Marketz, Bishop of Gurk (Austria); Bishop Andrew Cozzens, Bishop of Crookston (United States); Mons. Gianmarco Busca, Bishop of Mantua (Italy); Bishop Martin Yao Wen, Bishop of Taichung (Taiwan); and Mons. Alonso Garza, Bishop of Braga (Portugal).
The objective, according to Father Váscones, was for the Eucharist to be celebrated within the historic center of Quito “not only for the communities that have come or attended the congress, but for all the people of those languages who live in the city.”
After Spanish, the second largest linguistic group present at the congress is English—whose Mass was celebrated in the Santo Domingo church—“due to the large number of people who have come from Australia,” as Father Váscones explained.
The Quito 2024 program also includes a Eucharistic procession on Saturday the 14th in the streets of the historic center. This will start from the San Francisco church and will culminate in the Basilica of the National Vow.
Eduardo Berdejo
Professional in Social Communication from the Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos in Peru, I have more than 20 years of experience in Catholic digital journalism. As part of ACI Prensa I have been sent to cover Pope Francis’ trips to Cuba, Mexico, Colombia and Peru, in addition to the Synodality Synod in the Vatican in 2023.