Latin American Episcopal Conference
（重定向自CELAM）
The Latin American Episcopal Council (Spanish:Consejo Episcopal Latinoamericano), better known as CELAM, is a council of the Roman Catholic bishops of Latin America, created in 1955 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Based in Bogotá (Colombia), CELAM pushed the Second Vatican Council (1962-65) toward a more progressive stance. During the four next years, CELAM prepared 1968 Medellín Conference, in Colombia, officially supporting "base ecclesiastic communities" and the Liberation theology propounded by Gustavo Gutiérrez in his 1972 essay, A Theology of Liberation: History, Politics and Salvation. In 1968, Bishop Samuel Ruiz of Chiapas, Mexico, was named president of the Department of Missions of CELAM.