L’America Latina nell’operato della Santa Sede durante il Pontificato di Giovanni Paolo II
Latin America as a field of the activity of the Holy See during John Paul II’s pontificate

Summary/Abstract: The first voyage made abroad by John Paul II to Mexico in January 1979 inaugurated the pontificate which had made a profound influence upon the relations between nations for more than a quarter of a century. Latin America became a dear region for the Polish Pope, who brought a great deal of energy and involvement for the development of Catholic life and the work of new evangelization. He considered this continent a place of hope for the Catholic Church: he made eighteen apostolic visits to this continent, and frequently prayed, as a pilgrim in Guadalupe, in front of the Heavenly Mother to which he referred as the Star of the First Evangelization. When the Pope appeared in Latin America for the first time in 1979, almost 43% of the population were Catholic people, after twenty‑five years this number increased to over 60%. His final pilgrimage of 2002 ended with a great gift for the inhabitants of the continent: the canonization of Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin – the first Indian saint in the history of the Church. John Paul II’s first visit to Latin America took place amid great expectations and appeals for specific solutions which were needed due to the great ideological and religious unrest caused by the clash between the Marxist ideology with the liberal and nationalistic ideology, and the spread of the so‑called “liberation theology”. The latter was associated with a one‑sided interpretation of the teaching of the Second Vatican Council. The crisis of the Church on this continent was accompanied by the lack of a new evangelizational offer and a spiritual apathy which was partly overcome at the end of the 1970s.

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