Title: Amazon: Meeting in Rome Intensifies Synodal Path
In the vast territory of the Amazon, the rivers, lakes, and streams are channels of communication and connection between the people, whether they are from the forest, the riverside, or the cities, which in turn connect with all of humanity. The meeting on the synodal path of the Church in the Amazon, held on June 7, took place at the Pontifical Gregorian University (PUG) in Rome.
Participants of the meeting: REPAM and CEAMA
With the aim of expanding and intensifying this network of people, communities, and institutions committed to caring for the Common Home, the Pontifical Gregorian University (PUG) in Rome hosted a meeting on the synodal path of the Church in the Amazon on June 7.
A network, two oars, canoes, sieves, some gourds, and faces of martyrs, placed in the university’s lobby, recalled the Synod for the Amazon in 2019, connecting the territory’s communities to the eternal city of Rome. The arrangement set the stage for the mystical opening dialogue promoted by the Pan-Amazonian Ecclesial Network (REPAM) and the Ecclesial Conference of the Amazon (CEAMA), led by their respective presidencies. Around 50 people participated, including representatives of international cooperation agencies, pastoral and ecclesial organizations, religious life, and journalists from various media outlets.
“Possibly the original Amazonian peoples have never been as threatened in their territories as they are now,” Pope Francis declared in Puerto Maldonado (Peru) in 2018. The statement was recalled by Bishop David Martínez de Aguirre, vice president of REPAM, who, in 2019, was the secretary of the Synod for the Amazon. “Images speak louder than words,” said the Bishop of Puerto Maldonado, referring to one of the videos shown during the event to denounce the impacts of oil and mineral exploitation in the region.
“The Synod and the Apostolic Exhortation Querida Amazonia highlighted the beauties and the drama of the Amazon,” In the document, “the Pope speaks of injustices and crimes. Five years later, we sadly have to say that the situation not only remains but has worsened,” he observed. “The bishops of Peru recently denounced the relaxation of environmental laws that leave the Amazon and the planet even more vulnerable.” Furthermore, “states claim sovereignty, and countries are co-opted by organized crime, reflecting a crisis of democracy.” According to the bishop, there is a connection between “coca cultivation, drug trafficking, illegal mining, logging, land trafficking, human trafficking, and complicity in illegal activities.”
An indigenous voice
Speaking on behalf of the communities, Yesica Patiachi, a member of the Harakbut people in Peru and vice president of REPAM, raised a historical question for reflection. “Indigenous peoples have been threatened since the arrival of the ‘whites.’ We who were in the Amazon were not considered humans but savages, we had no souls. I now wonder, who doesn’t have a soul? Who are the savages as they said?” Yesica questioned, emphasizing the importance of education in finding solutions. “In the last five years, at least 30 environmentalists have lost their lives. And we ask ourselves, what do we do? Indifference kills because it contributes to the violation of human rights. We do not want to forget our ancestral wisdom. A people who do not have access to education becomes more vulnerable. The greatest cry of indigenous peoples is not for the celebration of the Mass but for help in educating our children. I want them to study at a university,” said Yesica, a writer, researcher, painter, and educator who became acquainted with the Church through the education provided by the nuns who reach where the State does not reach.
At the Gregorian in Rome, she recalled a question asked at the Catholic University of Peru: “How many indigenous students do you have here? This is a long process, and we have institutions like REPAM and CEAMA that invest in education,” an indispensable tool for the self-determination of communities. “We cannot go back; we have to move forward weaving networks, rowing together,” she concluded.
The meeting was moderated by Father Adelson Araújo Santos, Sj, a professor at the Gregorian, and Sister Laura Vicuña, a Franciscan Catechist and vice president of CEAMA, and coordinated by Brother João Gutemberg, a Marist and Executive Secretary of REPAM, and Rodrigo Fadul, Deputy Secretary, who emphasized the importance of joining forces and working in a network.
In welcoming the guests, the President of the Collegium Maximum (PUG), Father Pino Di Luccio, SJ, recalled that the meeting takes place in the context of the celebrations of the 10 years since the creation of REPAM, an organization founded in 2014, which, together with CEAMA, established on the synodal path in 2020, has generated various processes and diverse ecclesial networks committed to the defense and promotion of integral ecology worldwide. “The Amazonian territory is an invaluable treasure for our planet, a gift from God to all. Preserving, protecting, and sustainably managing this land is essential for our survival and that of future generations,” said Father Di Luccio. “The Amazonian University Program (PUAM) and the Diploma in Integral Ecology promoted by the pontifical universities in Rome are some of the academic contributions to the challenge of caring for the planet.”
The Amazon is at the heart of Pope Francis, who, in 2015, highlighted it in the Encyclical Laudato si’ and in 2019 held the Synod. In the Apostolic Exhortation Querida Amazonia (2020), Francis states: “Beloved Amazon presents itself to the world’s eyes with all its splendor, its drama, and its mystery, encouraging an ecological conversion and inviting us to care for Creation and promote a Church with an Amazonian face” (QA 1).
The importance of two oars
In the current context and faced with the challenges in the mission of the Church, the presidents of CEAMA and REPAM, Cardinal Pedro Ricardo Barreto and Dom Rafael Cob Garcia, thanked the support of the institutions in the various projects for the communities and emphasized the need to row together with the two oars in a coordinated and complementary manner. The oar of REPAM with action in the environment, cultures, and social, and the oar of CEAMA with its canonical and juridical specificity. Both promote a Church with an Amazonian face and synodality in the search for new paths and integral ecology.
Peruvian Cardinal Pedro Barreto, Archbishop Emeritus of Huancayo, further explained that, as CEAMA, “these days we had a kind of ad limina visit to inform Pope Francis and the dicasteries about the progress (of the Ecclesial Conference), exactly as the Episcopal Conferences do. And we feel from the Pope and the dicasteries in Rome, enthusiasm, joy, and above all hope, a hope that does not disappoint.” Therefore, “we continue to walk together,” said the cardinal.
Celebrating 10 years, REPAM wishes to return to its roots on the periphery, at its bases where it was conceived in the Vicariate of Puyo (Ecuador), in April 2013, to later be born in Brasília in September 2014. Its president, Dom Rafael Cob Garcia, recalled that “REPAM is a source of life in the Pan-Amazon in at least four tasks: knowing how to listen to the territory, listening to the cry of the peoples and the land; intercultural dialogue in diversity; caring for the Common Home of which the Amazon is an essential part; building alliances with those whose ideal is to defend the Amazon.”
Among the various nuclei, Dom Rafael Cob highlighted the Human Rights one. “The peoples living in the Amazon, their rights are vulnerable. That is why REPAM produces reports and presents them in various spheres (UN, OAS) to claim the rights of the peoples. It is important to work together and in a network,” emphasized the bishop of the Vicariate of Puyo.
The vice president of REPAM, Sister Carmelita Conceição, a Salesian sister, pointed out “the complementarity between REPAM and CEAMA in carrying out the commitment of the Synod, which is to seek new paths so that populations have their space and needs met.” Among the working nuclei are “the Amazonian peoples and the Church on the borders, which is the presence in isolated places to promote human rights.” This work is important because the Amazonian people suffer, are persecuted, are violated, and do not have the strength alone to face it. Another important nucleus is that of youth,” said Sister Carmelita. The initiatives of REPAM and CEAMA are a beacon of hope.
Support from international agencies
“In the global crisis we are experiencing, we need alliances, build bridges and not walls,” said the representative of ADVENIAT, Father Martin Meyer, an institution of the German Church that has been supporting projects in the Amazon. Also speaking were representatives of Caritas Spain, Ana Cristina Morales, CAFOD in England, Diana Trimino, and Father Patricio Sarlat, from the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development. International organizations are allies on the synodal path and in the care and defense of the territory. Among the main concerns are leadership training, education, human rights, international advocacy, women’s participation, and youth in the processes.
In Rome, the CEAMA and REPAM delegation participated in a series of activities that included an audience with Pope Francis on June 3, meetings in the departments that make up the Roman Curia, an event at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), interviews with the media, and meetings with ecclesiastical organizations on the Church’s mission in the Amazon.
The territory of the Pan-Amazon includes Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, French Guiana, Peru, Suriname, and Venezuela. The present and future of the planet depend on the survival of the Amazon in its biodiversity and the protection of its peoples threatened by predatory projects. The mission of the Church also involves caring for creation.
*Jaime C. Patias, IMC communications director, Rome.
Source: Vatican News