Quito, Ecuador – September 2024 - Delegations from all continents have arrived in Quito to participate in the great "Eucharistic Feast" that began on Sunday, September 8, on the esplanade of the Bicentennial Park. About 25,000 people gathered in this place to be witnesses and protagonists of this unforgettable and unrepeatable ecclesial event. The opening Eucharist of the 53rd International Eucharistic Congress involved the Archbishop of Quito and Primate of Ecuador, Bishop Alfredo José Espinoza Mateus, SDB. The opening Mass was concelebrated by the Apostolic Nuncio in Ecuador, Archbishop Andrés Carrascosa Coso; the Delegate Bishop of Spain, Archbishop Leonardo Lemos; the Auxiliary Bishop of Quito, Archbishop David de la Torre, SSCC.; and the Auxiliary Bishop of Sydney, Archbishop Richard Umbers. Also present were Cardinal Baltazar Porras Caardozo, papal legate; bishops from abroad and from Ecuador; priests, deacons, seminarians, altar servers and hundreds of men and women religious. This ceremony was also special because more than 1,600 boys and girls received their First Communion accompanied by their parents and catechists. Before the Mass, a video message from Pope Francis was screened during which he stressed that fraternity is "an essential condition for a new world, a more just world, a more humane world".