21/05/2024 15:30 - 16:30

HALL: FATESI - FAZELLO

Proponent: Núñez-Bargueño N.

Speaker: De La Cueva Merino J., Kuivala P., Núñez-Bargueño N.

The International Eucharistic Congresses (IEC) are one of the largest mass events organized by Catholicism in the contemporary world. Despite being similar to other major events, such as world exhibitions or even olympic games, we know very little about this particular phenomenon (Sorrel, Langlois: 2010). Except for two brief periods (which coincide with the two great world conflicts) the congress has been held uninterruptedly since 1881 in major cities around the world. In spite of the advance of secularization, the success of its celebration (the incredible masses of faithful it gathers; the religious, political, economic impact of its celebration) reveals the symbolic power that Catholicism has maintained in the contemporary world. The lack of scholarship on the IEC is particularly surprising for the Spanish case, mainly because, along with Germany and Italy, Spain is one of the countries that has most frequently hosted this world Catholic assembly: Madrid 1911; Barcelona 1952; Seville 1993. Each of these three congresses took place at a key moment both for the history of the city and the country, as well as for the particular circumstances of the universal Church and the international political, social and cultural panorama. All of this makes the IEC an excellent field of study that allows us to better understand hitherto less explored aspects of the complex evolution that religion, and in particular Catholicism, has had in late modern societies.