«We urge the governments of the Amazon region, in particular Brazil and Bolivia, the United Nations, and the international community to take serious measures to save the lung of the world. What happens in the Amazon is not a local matter, but has global reach. If the Amazon suffers, the world suffers,» are the words of the appeal launched by the executive of CELAM, the coordinating body of Latin American bishops’ conferences (CELAM) and reported by Fides News Agency.
In a statement the continental ecclesial body stated: «Aware of the terrible fires that devastate large parts of the flora and fauna in Alaska, Greenland, Siberia, the Canary Islands and in particular in the Amazon, the bishops of Latin America and the Caribbean want to raise our concern over the gravity of this tragedy that not only has a local or a regional impact, but of planetary proportions.
«The Amazon is a region rich in biodiversity, it is multi-ethnic, multi-cultural and multi-religious, a mirror of humanity which, to defend life, calls for structural and personal changes from all human beings, states, and the Church. This situation goes beyond the sphere of the Church in the Amazon because it addresses the universal Church and the future of the whole planet.»
The statement concludes by recalling the words of Pope Francis (March, 2013), asking «all those who hold positions of responsibility in the economic, political and social spheres, all men and women of goodwill: we are custodians of creation, of the design of God inscribed in nature, guardians of the environment; let us not allow the signs of destruction and death accompany the path of our world.»
