This archive report was first published on 6 October 2019.
Pope Francis has opened a synod in Rome to address the Amazon's environmental crisis, specifically the devastating fires that have ravaged the region. The synod, which runs until October 27, aims to champion the Amazon's poverty-stricken and isolated indigenous communities.
Speaking before the bishops from the nine countries of the pan-Amazonian region and representatives of indigenous peoples, Pope Francis condemned the destructive 'interests' he blamed for the fires. He emphasized that the fire of God is warmth that attracts and gathers into unity, whereas the destructive fire is fueled by profits and a desire for uniformity.
The synod's working document denounced social injustices and crimes, including murders, and suggested a Church action plan. It also called for the Church to listen to the cry of 'Mother Earth', which is being assaulted and wounded by the economic model of predatory and ecocidal development.
Among those attending the synod as an observer was Sister Laura Vincuna, a missionary trying to protect the territories of the Caripuna indigenous people in the Brazilian Amazon. She urged the Church to help defend the indigenous people's motherland, saying 'we have no other home!'
The synod comes as Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, a climate-change sceptic, has been criticized for his handling of the Amazon crisis. Pope Francis has previously denounced the destruction of the Amazonian rainforest in the name of 'enormous international economic interests' in his 2015 encyclical 'Laudato Si'.
