AN ECCLESIOLOGY OF THE ENCOUNTER WITH JESUS CHRIST. TEN YEARS AFTER APARECIDA AND IN LINE WITH EVANGELII GAUDIUM

Abstract

The present article seeks to propose a fundamental ecclesiology based on the theo-logical category of the “encounter with Jesus Christ”. This approach will be carried out in the light of the Document of Aparecida, ten years after its publication. In ad-dition, it will be made evident how Evangelii Gaudium of Pope Francis represents a key reception of this Latin American document. In the encounter with Jesus Christ, which takes place in history, the missionary discipleship emerges, at the same time as the selfishness and isolation between subjects is overcome. This encounter entails a dynamic of “going forth”, of extroversion, which has its culminating point in the Incarnation, which in turn makes possible the encounter with others.