CEREMONIES IN BRAZIL

Press, Volume XC, Issue 27408, 22 July 1954, Page 9

CEREMONIES IN BRAZIL

Eucharistic Congress Next Year (By a Reuter Correspondent) RIO DE JANEIRO. Roman Catholics in Brazil are busy on preparations for the Eucharistic Year which is to precede the holding of the thirty-sixth Eucharistic Congress in Rio de Janeiro, from July 18 to 24, 1955. The Eucharistic Year is due to open on July 18, 1954, with High Mass celebrated in the Municipal Football Stadium, which can hold 200.000 persons. At this Mass, the “Himno do Congresso” will be sung for the first time by a choir of 1000 voices. Interviewed by Rio newspapers ofi preparations for the Eucharistic Year and Congress, Dom Helder Camara, Titular Bishop of Salde and Auxiliary to the Cardinal Archbishop of Rio de Janeiro who is general secretary of the congress, said: “We have the full collaboration of the Brazilian Government for carrying out the year’s programme. Although in Brazil the Church is separate from the State, the Government authorities are conscious of the enormous significance of the Congress which, apart from representing a spiritual uplift of great importance in these confusing times of strife and doubt, will offer a splendid opportunity for propaganda for Brazil abroad.”

Foreign diocesan interested parties will be-supplied with all the information and illustrated material they may require, wherever there is a Brazilian diplomatic representative. The Foreign Ministry has undertaken to supply all Brazilian diplomatic missions abroad with these as well as with instructions to make them available to all who may be interested. For visitors from the United States, an American public relations company is in charge of propaganda and of travel bookings, lodgings, and so on. In addition to Cardinal Spellman, Dom Helder expects 21 other cardinals and more than 500 bishops and archbishops as well as diocesan representatives from the five continents, to attend the Congress. In addition, he says, “All Brazil is enthusiastic. In Rio alone more than 1,000,000 RomaY Catholics hope to attend the ceremonies.”

“Eucharistic Congresses ha,ve grown from year to year,” he said. “The last one was held in Barcelona anc 1 was a wonderful demonstration of faith. The Rio Congress will probably surpass that one, both in the number of people taking part and in the splendour of the city in which it is to be held. During the opening Mass, a choir of 1000 voices will sing, and some 2,000,000 are expected to take part in the closing procession.”