By Barbara J. Fraser – Saying the world has much to learn from Amazonian indigenous peoples, Pope Francis declared the Catholic Church their ally in their struggle to protect the region’s forests and rivers. In...
By Cindy Wooden – Pope Francis said he dreams of an Amazon region where the rights of the poor and indigenous are respected, local cultures are preserved, nature is protected, and the Catholic Church is...
by Raymond Perrier · Published November 12, 2019 · Last modified November 14, 2019
The sight of people from the Amazon with traditional clothes and instruments participating in a Mass in one of Rome’s grand baroque churches will be one of the defining images of this papacy. When...
By Junno Arocho Esteves – Addressing concerns about a proposed Amazonian rite in the Catholic Church, an indigenous participant at the Synod of Bishops for the Amazon called on Catholics to soften their hearts and...
By Junno Arocho Esteves – The way to rid the Catholic Church of clericalism is by giving laywomen a greater role in making decisions, a Bolivian bishop said. Bishop Ricardo Ernesto Centellas Guzman of Potosi...
Church / Ecology / Environment / Synod
by CNS · Published October 24, 2019 · Last modified October 23, 2019
By Barbara Fraser – Solutions to environmental problems discussed at the Synod of Bishops for the Amazon must involve not just Amazonian nations, but countries in Europe and North America, bishops said. “This is a...
By Junno Arocho Esteves – Creating an Amazonian-rite liturgy and new ministries for laypeople, including the ordination of women deacons, are some of the recurring proposals made by small groups at the Synod of Bishops...
By Cindy Wooden – The first week of the Synod of Bishops for the Amazon saw support for the priestly ordination of married indigenous men, impassioned pleas for respect for indigenous culture and denunciations of...
By Junno Arocho Esteves – Synod members called for the Catholic Church to deepen its theology in a way that would help people recognise “ecological sins.” According to a Vatican News summary of the afternoon...
By Barbara J. Fraser – By demanding respect for the cultures of indigenous peoples, Pope Francis was not promoting pantheism, but – tapping into his Jesuit roots – urging respect for a worldview that sees...
Christian Mission / Church / Mission
by CNS · Published October 12, 2019 · Last modified October 10, 2019
Why is the Church having a Synod of Bishops for the Pan-Amazon region? Barbara Fraser looks at the challenges of missionaries working in a lawless region so remote that it takes five days by...
Most bishops who lead dioceses in the Amazon support the ordination of married men of proven virtue, or “viri probati,” as a way of addressing the lack of priests in the region, a Brazilian...
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