Card. Czerny visits the Church of El Salvador and Honduras

From 23 to 28 November, the Prefect of this Dicastery met with the Bishops of Central America and learned about several projects of the local Church in support of the most marginalised

Synodal Dialogue on Social Pastoral Work in Honduras

Fifty years after Hurricane Fifì, which hit the country hard, the Archdiocese of Tegucigalpa organised a moment of reflection and dialogue on social pastoral work in Honduras. Participants included figures from the Catholic Church, Catholic social organisations, as well as lay people working for the integral development of people in the country.

Starting with the presentations of the speakers, participants next gathered in dialogue groups on the new challenges facing human development in Honduras, the common difficulties encountered in facing these challenges, and on how the Holy Spirit intervenes to help and support the development of an effective response.

Card. Czerny S.J., in addition to actively participating in the work of the groups, offered a presentation on the meaning of integral human development, as understood by the Dicastery he heads, which was followed by an open moment for questions from the participants.

At the end of the work, the assembly produced a final summary.

Casas Populorum: visit to the schools of Santa Teresa and Santa Maria

The ACOES Foundation has been present for more than 30 years in 12 regions of Honduras with the Casas Populorum Project, to guarantee the right to education to the 11,700 children in disadvantaged areas and enable them to build a dignified life for themselves.

The Prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development (DSSUI) was able to visit two of the project's schools in the Tegucigalpa district. Here the children, at risk of malnutrition and illiteracy, find not only a school where they can study, but a hot meal and a safe place where they can grow and be nurtured.

St. Teresa School has a dining hall capable of feeding 2,000 children every day, a library, a digital classroom, a field for games and sports, and an infirmary. Over time, the goodness of the project has led various people from the local community and the school's former students themselves to offer their concrete support, each according to their skills and experience.

The 72nd SEDAC Assembly in El Salvador

Card. Czerny S.J. then travelled to El Salvador, where he visited the Assembly of the Episcopal Secretariat of Central America (SEDAC), which met - as it does every year - to discuss the most pressing issues in the region and identify possible responses for the future in a synodal key.

The meeting also saw the release of the new Pastoral Charter on Regional Human Mobility, which includes Central America, North America and the Caribbean, produced in 2023 and ratified this year.

Representatives of the bishops' conferences of Canada, the USA, Mexico, the Dominican Republic and Haiti also participated in the work phase. While OSMECA (Socio-pastoral Observatory of Human Mobility of Mesoamerica and the Caribbean) is the technical body that did the drafting. DSSUI offered its assistance in both the organisational part and the drafting.

The Pastoral Charter is available in both Spanish and English.

Nuestra Señora de la Merced Reception Centre in San Salvador

Accompanied by the Apostolic Nuncio to El Salvador, Luigi Roberto Cona, the Prefect of DSSUI went to the Nuestra Señora de la Mercede Reception and Training Centre in the La Libertad neighbourhood of San Salvador.

Here, the Mercedarian fathers welcome and assist young people with special needs or released from prison, helping them to undertake university studies and thus build a future. Card. Czerny S.J. visited the facility, but above all dialogued and prayed with the young people present, and listened to their stories and hopes.

Lunch at the Recreation Center of the Capuchin Tertiaries

In the suburb of La Campanera, once one of the most dangerous places in El Salvador because of the criminal gangs, today stands the Capuchin Tertiary Sisters' Recreation Center, one of the sites of the project Sembrando Semillas de Esperanza, coordinated by the Conference of Religious of El Salvador.

In the most fragile areas of the country, the religious offer assistance and protection to children and young people in need to face situations of vulnerability. In particular, the project is based on six pillars: integral education, nutritional assistance, medical, psychological and spiritual and family assistance.

On this occasion, the Prefect and the Apostolic Nuncio had lunch in the shade of the Recreation Centre of the Capuchin Tertiary School, in the company of representatives of the young people assisted, religious sisters and volunteers, amidst songs, dances and testimonies of the work done so far and what is planned for the near future.

Below is a video testimony by Card. Michael Czerny, in which the Prefect reviews the highlights of this trip, reporting the impressions that this mission has left on him.