Final Documents of Medellín

The conference was opened by Paul VI in Bogotá on 24 August 1968 and its conclusions bear the name of Medellín. The sixteen documents cover justice, peace, the family, education, youth, popular religion, elites, catechesis, liturgy, lay movements, priests, religious, the training of clergy, the poverty of the church, joint pastoral planning and the mass media. Each sets out facts, a doctrinal reflection and pastoral recommendations.

The introduction says that the bishops considered the transformation of Latin America in the light of the council. The document on justice calls the misery of large groups an injustice that cries to heaven; the document on peace speaks of a situation of injustice that can be called institutionalised violence, and also says, in words it marks as a quotation, that violence is neither Christian nor evangelical; the document on the poverty of the church asks that the church’s people and efforts give effective preference to the poorest. These are the bishops’ own agreed words. Gutiérrez cites them in 1970, and the Roman instruction of 1984 refers to Medellín for the option for the poor. The copy read here marks footnotes in the text but does not print them. See Medellín and Liberation Theology.