Abstract

HERNANDEZ MADRID, Miguel J.. Preachings on Mercy. Pope Francisco’s Pastoral Visits to America. Relac. Estud. hist. soc. [online]. 2019, vol.40, n.157, pp.4-32. ISSN 2448-7554.  https://doi.org/10.24901/rehs.v40i157.334.

Why should readers be persuaded to peruse this analysis of Pope Francisco’s preachings on mercy delivered during his pastoral visits to the United States and nations in Latin America? The argument presented herein suggests three reasons, beginning with the primacy of the value of human relationships in the contemporary, worldwide context of movements of consciousness and their calls to restore mercy to the center of morality and religion. The second has to do with the importance that Francisco attributes to mercy by establishing it as one of the pillars of a renewed missionary Church; while the third sustains that papal preachings on mercy reveal a semantics constructed upon the pastoral experience of the Latin American Church as it confronts emerging challenges in this this epoch of change -exclusion, uncertainty and fear- which are interpreted as signs of our time. The main data sources analyzed are official documents issued by the Holy See in relation to Pope Francisco’s pastoral visits to Brazil, the United States and Mexico between 2013 and 2016.

Keywords : Pope Francisco; mercy; continental Church; disciples; missionaries.