ABSTRACT
The Latin American participation in the Second Vatican Council and the Vatican II reception, interpretation, and transformation at the Second General Conference of the Latin American Episcopal Council (CELAM) in Medellin (1968) marked the beginning of a new ecumenical era that engendered popular collaboration among Latin American Catholics and Protestants based mostly on concerns for justice, democracy, human rights, and citizenship. The new era was informed by a strong commitment to solidarity with the oppressed. The rise, in particular, of ecumenismo popular is an important contribution from Latin America to the broader ecumenical movement. The new windows opened in Medellin for church and society in Latin America remain critical for the continuous construction of an ecumenical agenda in the twenty-first century.
