From August 19 to 22, the 58 local Churches of the Brazilian legal Amazon met under the theme “The Church that becomes flesh and expands its tent in the Amazon: memory and hope.” Recollect bishops were present.
Organized by the Special Episcopal Commission for the Amazon of the Brazilian Episcopal Conference (CNBB) and the Pan-Amazonian Ecclesiastical Network (REPAM), the V Meeting of the Brazilian Church in the Amazon took place at the Maromba Diocesan Training Center in Manaus (Amazonas, Brazil) and was attended by a total of 80 participants, including the Augustinian Recollect Bishops Santiago Sánchez (Lábrea, Amazonas), Jesús María López Mauleón (Alto Xingu-Tucumã, Pará) and Jesús Moraza (emeritus).
Two cardinals, 60 bishops, religious men and women, lay co-responsible for various ecclesial ministries, and riverside and indigenous leaders participated in the sessions and meetings. Guest observers from the Brazilian federal government were also present.
The majority of the V Meeting studied the situation of the priority lines previously marked: strengthening of the Ecclesiastical Base Communities, Ministries, participation of women, formation, defense of the riverside and indigenous peoples, care for the Common House and evangelization of youth.
Ricardo Hoepers, auxiliary bishop of Brasilia and general secretary of the CNBB presided over the opening, encouraging those present to empathize with the needs of other pastors and to avoid the temptation of clericalism, traditionalism and any selfish mentality that closes dialogue and progress.
The Church in the Amazon seeks to be a beacon of hope, an instrument of social transformation, a promoter of human dignity, peace and the integrity of Creation. To this end, it has established six axes of commitment, task and reinforcement: formation, ministries, women, common house, sustainability, charity and prophecy.
Among the difficulties indicated by the pastors, is the challenge that many of their seminarians are trained outside the region, disconnected from local needs. The aim will be to have well-trained formators who can act in the region.
To improve women’s participation, it has been proposed that the Councils not only be consultative, deepening synodality when making decisions; that the ministries not remain within the ecclesial structure, but that their action also extend to politics, culture or ecology;
The Amazonian Church wishes to organize itself to raise resources, promote the solidarity economy and integral ecology, with transparent management and reinforcement of actions on human rights, justice and peace.
Before the Meeting, studies had been made on what had been done in each of the local Churches and questions were asked to establish the real ecclesial situation, as well as to move forward on issues such as the Amazonian rite.
The Cardinal Archbishop of Manaus, Leonardo Steiner, pointed out the need to always announce the Kingdom of God so that it reaches everyone in all its fullness, with all availability, generosity and dedication on the part of Catholics, with their pastors at the forefront. And he recalled the importance of prioritizing in this action “the little ones of God.”
The Amazon is the Brazilian region with the greatest human mobility, both nationally and internationally. Its society is too marked by violence and the violation of human rights, with groups specialized in smuggling, human trafficking, drug trafficking and labor exploitation.
One of the concerns of the Church is the enormous increase in migrants without legal documentation in Brazil and without attention from the public authorities. They carry great personal suffering. Special attention is proposed for the Church to fight against xenophobia and aporophobia, which are beginning to have an alarming presence in society.
As a border region, the Amazon has great challenges. This condition brings with it conflicts: organized crime, illegal mining, uncontrolled agribusiness with profit as the only criterion. There are shocking and terrible realities: pollution, violence, fires, trafficking of women, slavery… The data is scary: statistics say that in 2023 a minor was raped every 8 minutes in the Amazon.
