Rome (Italy). On 2 June 2024, a delegation of priests, men and women religious, and lay people of the Pan-Amazon Ecclesial Network (REPAM), including the President, Msgr. Rafael Cob García, Bishop of the Vicariate of Puyo (Ecuador) and the three Vice-Presidents; Sister Maria Carmelita de Lima Conceição, FMA, Provincial of  Our Lady of the Amazon Province (BRM); the indigenous Peruvian Yessica Patiachi; and Msgr. David Martinez de Aguirre, Bishop of the Vicariate of Puerto Maldonado (Peru);  and of the Ecclesial Conference of the Amazon (CEAMA), with the President, Peruvian Cardinal Pedro Ricardo Barreto Jimeno, has come to Rome for a triple celebration: the 10th anniversary of the establishment of REPAM, the 5th anniversary of the Special Synod for the Amazon, and the 4th anniversary of the establishment of  CEAMA.

To maintain a fraternal dialogue with Pope Francis and to receive his indications, as well as to meet the Dicasteries to let them know the mission of each organization, the articulation of the accompaniment and the communion between CEAMA and REPAM in the Amazon, were the objectives of their presence in Rome until June 7.

The first meeting took place on June 3 with Pope Francis, in the private audience in the Vatican, a historic meeting, being the first official one between the Pontiff and the two organizations operating in the Amazon territory.

The Pope welcomed the group saying, “I thank you for this journey together.” And he recommended, “We must continue to take care of people, of our common home, of our cultures. We must continue to take care of the Amazon.”

Card. Barreto and Mons. Cob greeted Pope Francis on behalf of the delegation, underlining the mission of CEAMA and REPAM to continue building a synodal Church with an Amazonian face. Recalling the experience of the Synod for the Amazon in October 2019, the preparation of which was coordinated by REPAM, Card. Barreto stressed that, although serious challenges continue to be faced in the territory, REPAM and CEAMA are a source of hope for an articulated action of the Church for the defense of the common home.

Together with them were present all the peoples who inhabit the Pan-Amazon region, a reality marked by poverty due to the exploitation of land and resources.

After the meeting with Pope Francis, the delegations of CEAMA and REPAM had an intense agenda to thank and appreciate the presence of the various Dicasteries involved in the mission to concretize the Synod that, according to the words of Bishop Rafael Cob was, “a Kairos of the Spirit that moves and guides the ecclesial journey, to make us dream, with joy and hope, the four dreams of Francis: social, cultural, ecological, and ecclesial.”

On 4 June, at the Sheikh Zayed Center of the FAO headquarters, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, participated in the presentation of the volume, “Amazonia: New paths for the Church and for an integral ecology” containing the Acts of the Special Assembly of the Synod of Bishops for the Pan-Amazon Region. (cf Vatican News)

Meetings then followed with the various Dicasteries: Evangelization, Bishops, Dicastery for the Service of Integral Human Development, Divine Worship, Communication, Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life.

On 7 June, at the Gregorian University, the Conference “The Synodal Way of the Church in the Amazon” was held, addressed to international cooperation agencies, to pastoral and ecclesial organizations, to Consecrated Life, to all people sensitive to the cause of the Amazon, journalists, and media interested in interviewing the Presidencies of REPAM and CEAMA.

The Delegation also celebrated the martyrs who gave their lives for the mission, including many missionaries, catechists, and workers sacrificed by the greed of those who aim only to appropriate their natural riches.

Sister Carmelita Conceição expresses the joy of being part of this journey:

“The Daughters of Mary Help of Christians in the Amazon have been present in the Amazon for 101 years and it is a great joy to be part of this history marked by lights and shadows, bringing back the memory of the missionaries who gave their lives in this territory through pastoral educational. As a member of REPAM, I am happy to hear the Pope say, ‘We must move forward’, broadening the horizon to the new generations who will play their part, being present in today’s history. I am very grateful to the FMA Institute and my Province, that allows me to participate in this movement of the Church inserted in the Amazon reality and open to the world.”

REPAM is an ecclesial organization born in September 2014 as a result of the journey undertaken by the prophetic Church and embodied in the Pan-Amazonia, a territory that includes Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, French Guiana, Peru, Suriname, and Venezuela. Protecting and safeguarding the Amazon and its inhabitants is essential to ensure the existence of the Planet, Common Home of all humanity.

During the 10 years of consolidation of the Network, several significant processes have been generated for the Amazon territory of importance for all humanity:

 

–  In 2015 Pope Francis stressed the theme of the Amazon in the Encyclical Laudato si’.

–  In 2019 the Synod for the Amazon took place in Rome.

–  In 2020 the Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation Querida Amazônia was published.

–  In 2020 the Ecclesial Conference of the Amazon was founded (CEAMA).

From these processes came the Intercultural Network of Bilingual Education (REIBA) and the Amazon University Program (PUAM). In relation to this journey, the Ecclesial Networks for Integral Ecology were founded and consolidated in different territorial contexts of the world, forming the “Ecclesial Networks Alliance for Integral Ecology (ENA).

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