by Monica Poletto
Bogotá – The meeting is scheduled for the end of August in Rome. For two days, a group of men and women from across Latin America who contributed to the development and drafting of the “Manual” will gather for an intensive working session. The visit will conclude with an audience with Pope Leo X, to whom a copy of the manual will be presented along with an account of the communities’ significant involvement in its creation.
The “Manual” in Spanish entitled “Manual de Adicciones” , was promoted and developed at the initiative of an office of the Latin American Episcopal Council , specifically the one dedicated to Latin American Pastoral Care for the Accompaniment and Prevention of Addictions .
The Manual is intended as a practical resource of universal value, offered to all institutions, organizations and groups engaged in the direct care and accompaniment of people living with addiction. At the same time, it is the fruit and testimony of a new ecclesial reality—dynamic and fruitful—that has been growing spontaneously across Latin America for nearly twenty years around initiatives of welcoming and fraternal accompaniment for vulnerable people, especially in the working-class neighborhoods of cities.
On June 25, the eve of the International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking, established by the United Nations General Assembly in 1987, the Manual was officially presented at CELAM’s headquarters in Bogotá. On that occasion, the work was presented by Emilce Cuda, secretary of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America, and by Father Charly Olivero, coordinator of PLAPA.
Father Charly, a priest from Buenos Aires, explains in an interview with Fides News Agency the origin and purpose of the Manual, conceived primarily as a pastoral, theological, and methodological aid for communities to accompany people struggling with substance abuse.
Overcoming “reductionism”
The Manual, Father Charly explains, also arose from the desire of Christian communities throughout Latin America to confront together the serious problem of the spread of drugs, supporting one another with a shared perspective and path.
A previous manuel, entitled “Church, Drugs and Drug Addiction,” published in 2001 during the pontificate of Saint John Paul II, was for a long time a reference text and a valuable resource. However, it was now necessary to update it, taking into account scientific advances and the pastoral responses developed over the years.
From various regions came the call for a new tool that would take into account the cultural characteristics of each country while never losing sight of the structural causes of the widespread growth of addiction.
During his many years of fieldwork in the slums and working-class neighborhoods of Argentina, Father Charly had experienced the importance of looking at and embracing the whole person: without this perspective, no technique based on a partial view can be truly effective. From there, he began a dialogue with the many people in different communities who share, day after day, the lives of those marked by addiction.
More than three hundred people eventually became involved in PLAPA, forming the extensive network that made the preparation of the Manual possible.
“This tool,” the Argentine priest emphasizes, “helps us minimize what we call reductionisms, which prevents us from walking together. When we limit our view to our own way of doing things, to our own perspective, and do not open it up to the totality of reality, we limit our ability to understand its complexity. Thanks to everyone’s contribution, this manual has attempted to embrace this complexity.”
The process that guided the collaborative drafting of the Manual recalls one of the key principles reaffirmed by Pope Francis in the apostolic exhortation “Evangelii Gaudium”: reality is greater than the idea. It is not about confronting ideas, but rather lived experiences.
As Frather Charly explains, the Manual is structured according to the three-step pastoral and social methodology—see, judge, and act—historically adopted by the Churches of Latin America and later codified by Saint John XXIII in the encyclical “Mater et Magistra.”
“The first stage, ‘seeing’,” Father Charly explains, “consists of analyzing the situation. The ‘judging’ stage begins with the questions that arise in the heart of a person who wants to answer them from a specific place: a parish, a diocese, a school, the street. From the encounter with that reality, questions begin to emerge, which, in turn, open up new questions.” We have chosen the scholastic method to structure this section: examining the questions, the answers, and the possible objections, always with the intention of broadening our perspective to encompass the complexity of reality.”
He adds: “There are many hypotheses, approaches, and objections concerning the issue of drugs. We analyze them to begin a process of discernment. We want our perspective to be comprehensive, not abstract, and to take into account all the factors of reality. The manual originates from specific places, from our own territories. We have been touched by a reality that, in different ways, has shaped our lives.”
The trap of abstractions
Reflecting on the origins of the work, Father Charly explains that everything began in 2018, when the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development convened a meeting in which he participated as a representative of the Familia Grande Hogar de Cristo.
“Representatives from the U.S. State Department were also present at that meeting, and they informed me of their intention to develop a text on the topic of addiction that could be used by the Church.”
The idea was further developed at a meeting organized by CICAD , within OAS . On that occasion, the training proposal they were working on was presented, but that material had a strong scientific focus to which they were attempting to add a spiritual dimension.
According to Father Charly, this approach still fell short of the broader perspective needed to look at the person in his or her entirety. It reduced complexity, because an exclusively empirical approach addresses some dimensions of reality while neglecting others.
“For example, it does not talk about love. And yet, how many people begin their journey to overcome drug addiction thanks to the presence of people who love them!”
Many courses developed by international organizations, he observes, overlook crucial elements and real factors that influence people’s lives and decisions. For example, they start from a dualistic view of real life and religious sentiment, as if the latter were merely an addition rather than a constitutive dimension of the human heart.
The contagion of communion
Faced with his refusal to adhere to that perspective, he was asked to involve people working on the ground in writing their own text. Thus, a first version was born, which, in 2023, was also developed into training modules.
Thanks to the proposed training activities, the group traveled to different Latin American countries, deepening their understanding of the territories and gradually creating a network of people involved in the work on the Manual and in the nascent PLAPA.
From this journey also emerged the need to develop within CELAM a specific pastoral approach for people facing situations of addictions. The topic was shared with Bishop Jorge Lozano, then Secretary of CELAM, who initiated the process in that direction. Gradually, the people involved in the training activities became part of PLAPA.
Communities and organizations engaged in pastoral work across Latin America gradually came together within this new ecclesial initiative, sharing their experiences and learning from one another. Through this ongoing dialogue, the need emerged for a common vision that could also give rise to a common tool, one shaped by mutual exchange and woven from the richness of diverse experiences.
The meetings involved hundreds of people and addressed different topics, often working in small groups: supporting women, providing care to prisoners with substance use disorders, the reality of those experiencing homelessness, the expansion and globalization of organized crime, and how it shapes local communities. Each participant contributed from their own experience.
To integrate all this wealth of information into the manual, the group also enlisted the help of artificial intelligence, used to identify common elements across different regions and organize the collected material. “It helped us, but it did not replace us,” explains Father Charly. The work of reading and understanding all this information was time-consuming; only then did the writing begin.
This comprehensive vision culminates in what Father Charly defines as an ethic of care. Between two extreme positions—harm reduction and abstentionism—the ethics of care occupies another level: it is a continuation of the focus on the person and their heart.
Sometimes a person simply needs a shower, and every effort is made to ensure that he or she can have one. when they later begin the journey of abstaining from substance use, they are supported so they can continue along the way.
Now begins the phase of disseminating the Manual, also through training programs for dioceses and those involved in this work.
“The training itineraries,” explains Father Charly, “are intended to be a concrete aid for the work of parishes and communities, and a way to continue the method used to create the manual. They offer examples of relevant experiences. And when someone shares their own experience, it is easy for a relationship to develop. The most important thing is that this exchange continues among us and with all those who want to get involved.”
The wealth of experiences and contacts shared around the manual will continue to enrich this tool, conceived as an instrument in constant development.
The goal is not to bring one chapter to a close, but to begin offering this work to everyone.
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