This article compares the Eucharstic Congresses of 1913 and 1968 in Colombia and argues that, in effect, the fifty-five years separating the two meetings represent a dramatic change in Colombian church-state relations. By 1968, many priests, bishops and citizens in Colombia and Latin America had been «converted» because they now understood the role and power of the poor and the sought to define and solve problems from the perspective of the poor rather than from the perspective of the hiercarchical Church or State.