The Pan-Amazon Synod

"Amanhecer no Parque Nacional do Jaú, Amazonas" by Artur Warchavchik. CC BY-SA 3.0. (https://commons.wikimedia.org)

“Embracing the wish of several Latin American Episcopal Conferences, as well as the requests of various Pastors and faithful from other parts of the world, I have decided to convoke a Special Assembly of the Synod of Bishops for the Pan-Amazon region, which will take place in Rome in the month of October 2019.

The main purpose of this convocation is to identify new paths for the evangelization of this segment of the People of God, especially the indigenous peoples, often forgotten and without the prospect of a peaceful future, also due to the crisis of the Amazon rainforest, the lungs of paramount importance for our planet.

May the new Saints intercede through this ecclesial event, so that, with respect for the beauty of creation, all the people of the earth may praise God, Lord of the universe, and enlightened by him, may follow paths of justice and peace.”

Pope Francis
Angelus, 15 October 2017
 
 
 
Quick Facts from World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF): Click on the title to read the full article.
  • The Amazon Biome, is defined as the area covered predominantly by dense moist tropical forest, with relatively small inclusions of several other types of vegetation such as savannas, floodplain forests, grasslands, swamps, bamboos, and palm forests.

  • Two times the size of India, the Amazon biome encompasses 6.7 million km and is shared by eight countries (Brazil, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana and Suriname), as well as the overseas territory of French Guiana.

  • Not only does the Amazon encompass the single largest remaining tropical rainforest in the world, it also houses at least 10% of the world’s known biodiversity, including endemic and endangered flora and fauna, and its river, which is over 6,600 km long, accounts for 15-16% of the world’s total river discharge into the oceans.

  • The Amazon is home to 350 ethnic groups, more than 60 of which still remain largely isolated. 

  • During the last half century, the seemingly endless Amazon has lost at least 17% of its forest cover, its connectivity has been increasingly disrupted, and numerous endemic species have been subjected to waves of resource exploitation.

 
 
 
“This [Pan-Amazon] Synod revolves around life: 
the life of the Amazon territory and its peoples,
the life of the Church, the life of the planet.”
 
Working Document of the Pan-Amazon Synod
 
 
Here are some resources to help us accompany this Pan-Amazon Synod with prayer and interest:  
Click on the title to access the resource.
 
Angelus, 15 October 2017
Pope Francis announces the Special Assembly of the Synod of Bishops for the Pan-Amazon region.
 
Preparatory Document for the Synod on the Pan Amazon Region.  Amazonia: New Paths for the Church and for an Integral Ecology  –  This document has four parts:
1.  Preamble
2.  Seeing:  Identity and Cries of the Pan-Amazonia
3.  Discernment: Towards a Pastoral and Ecological Conversion
4.  Action: New Pathfs for a Church with an Amazonian Face
 
Instrumentum Laboris (Working Document).  The Amazon:  New Paths for the Church and for Integral Ecology  –  This document has four parts:
1.  Introduction
2.  The Voice of the Amazon
3.  Integral Ecology:  The Cry of the Earth and the Poor
4.  A Prophetic Church in the Amazon:  Challenges and Hope
 
Amazonia: New Paths for the Church and for an Integral Ecology
Official site of the Special Assembly of the Synod of Bishops for the Pan-Amazon Region.
 
REPAM:  Red Ecclesial Panamazónica
Website of REPAM, containing news and articles.
 
GCCM:  Synod on the Amazon
Website of the Global Catholic Climate Movement on the Pan-Amazon Synod.
 
 
JPIC International, the UN-NGO Office, and the Continental Popular Education Network will circulate updates to the Society from the Synod for the Pan-Amazon Region.  

[Click on this link to read more about this new collaboration: https://rscjinternational.org/news/care-our-common-home]

 
 

Section |Sacred Heart at the UN


JPIC |A Focus for Transforming Relationships: Care for the Earth, Our Common Home

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