Given the fact that I will be travelling, I am posting this article a day early. There will be no post tomorrow.
“Amazonia: new pathways for the Church and for an integral ecology” is the theme announced by Pope Francis for the Special Assembly of the Synod of Bishops of the Pan-Amazon Region.
That title contains an urgent call to undertake new action because, as the Pope has warned repeatedly in various occasions, failure to act and make radical changes in lifestyles and energy consumption will have grave consequences for all of us.
That’s why, in accordance with Latin American Bishops, the Holy Father has called for a Special Assembly of the Synod of Bishops that will involve Prelates and consultants from Latin America’s Pan-Amazon region.
One of the 18 members of the pre-Synodal Council which is tasked with collaborating with the General Secretariat in the preparation of the Special Assembly, is Mauricio Lopez, Executive Secretary of REPAM, the Pan-Amazon Ecclesiastical Network.
Lopez explained that the work of REPAM is essentially to connect the network to the identity of the territory it represents.
“The Amazon region integrates 9 different countries, (Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guyana, Guyana, Peru, Venezuela and Surinam)” he said.
Covering 5 million square miles the Amazon is a place where the Church tries to respond to the challenges and the cries of the people.
The Amazon is home to some 33 million people, of which 3 million represent indigenous communities from almost 400 different tribes or groups.
“Each one of them with such richness, identity and diversity. So we really have to recognize the richness and what is there and also at the same time there is a big number of people already living in the cities” Lopez said.
Increased urbanization is resulting in the fact that some of those groups are more and more under threat “especially those who we describe as ‘in voluntary isolation’ or non-contacted indigenous communities”.
In the world, there are about 140 ‘un-contacted indigenous communities’, 130 of them are in the Amazon region. Some of them have never had contact with the Western world while others have had some contact and have decided not to have contact anymore and to remain apart.
It is especially these communities which are being threatened by the increased monoculture in the agro-business, and extractive industries.
The Pope’s call for a Synod for the Amazon makes the point of the universality of the call to respond to and respect the reality of the indigenous people on the one hand and on the other to protect and defend this territory.
The future of the Church and the planet hinges on how we respect and defend the environment, the Pope has insisted repeatedly.
Directing his attention to the Bishops of Brazil when he was there for World Youth Day in 2013, the Pope stated: “If we fail in the Amazon, then we might have failed completely.”
The “Amazonia” Synod already has sparked much conversation and speculation regarding the Pope’s openness to considering a “married” Priesthhood and a greater involvement of women in ministry.
We shall keep track of developments as they occur on what could be a truly transforming moment in the history of the Church.
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