"The church does not have solutions for all the many problems of the Americas. It is up to men of good will, with all their different skills . . . to find a solution to the huge problems of this continent."
With those words, Cardinal Jean-Claude Turcotte of Montreal yesterday presented the final message of the Synod of Bishops' Special Assembly for America at a Vatican news conference.
For the last three weeks 300 bishops from North, South and Central America have met in the Vatican to exchange views about the problems facing their different flocks in a continent of stark contrasts, ranging from the opulence of wealthy North America to the dire poverty of indigenous communities in Brazil and Peru.
Inevitably, the final message from the bishops strikes a denunciatory note as it highlights some of the most obvious problems afflicting a continent that accounts for nearly 50 per cent of the world's one billion Catholics.
Third World debt, the plight of street children, the growing rich-poor gap, the systematic oppression of minority groupings, the fate of migrant workers and overall poverty are all highlighted in the final message which reflects the content of the 76 Propositions that the synod fathers will offer up to Pope John Paul II.
It is expected the Pope will deliver his post-synodal conclusions some time in the second half of 1998, perhaps during the course of a scheduled visit to the Mexican shrine of Guadalupe.
When he comes to assess the synod's work, he will find much familiar reading since many of the propositions reflect concerns that he himself has often voiced.
Take, for example, the message's observations on Third World debt (Par 20): "The burden of external and internal debt, which for many countries has been something from which there seems to be no prospect of relief, has been a considerable concern during the synod.
"Even though international debt is not the sole concern of poverty in many developing countries, it cannot be denied that it has contributed to creating conditions of extreme privation which constitute an urgent challenge to the conscience of humankind.
"Accordingly, we join the Holy Father in his appeal for the reduction or forgiveness of debts in an effort to give relief to the people of some of the world's poorest nations."
The synod's message is not merely one of denunciation since it speaks of the "joys" and "hopes" as well as the "sorrows" and "concerns" of the Catholic Church in the three Americas.
Reflecting on the huge socioeconomic, geographic and cultural divides that characterise the entire continent, Archbishop Francis Gayot of Haiti yesterday underlined the unifying values of the Faith.
"Coming together in this synod for the last three weeks has been very important and has allowed us to overcome our diversity in the unity of our Faith", he said.
The synod will formally close today with a special Mass offered by the Pope.
Pope John Paul plans a five-day visit to Cuba next month. His itinerary is expected to include a Mass at Santuario del Cobre and the shrine of the Virgin of Charity of Cobre, who was declared Cuba's patron by Pope Benedict XV in 1916. Every day hundreds of people visit the shrine, 850 km east of Havana.