The Holy Father Francis has established that the Special Assembly of the Synod of Bishops of the Pan-Amazon Region, to take place in October 2019, will have the following theme:
Amazonia: new pathways for the Church and for an integral ecology
In addition, the Holy Father has appointed eighteen members of the pre-Synodal Council, which will collaborate with the General Secretariat in the preparation of the aforementioned Special Assembly.
The theme is closely aligned with sentiments expressed by the Holy Father during his recent apostolic journey to Chile and Peru. On January 19, 2018, he told some 4,000 indigenous peoples in the Amazon region of Peru that he wanted to be with them to share their challenges and reaffirm them with “a wholehearted option for the defense of life, the defense of the earth and the defense of cultures.”
Greeting the inhabitants of the Amazon, the Pope remembered, and had distributed, his encyclical on the environment Laudato Si, on care for our common home, and expressed his gratitude for what they do to protect the planet.
“Allow me to say once again,” the Pope said, “‘Praise to you, Lord, for your marvelous handiwork in your Amazonian peoples and for all the biodiversity that these lands embrace!”
