This Wednesday, July 2, a meeting was held with the bishops delegated to CEAMA of the seven episcopal conferences that make up the Amazon, in order to review and consolidate the programmatic and organizational aspects of the Meeting of Bishops of the Amazon, which will take place fromAugust 17-20, 2025 in Bogotá.
The meeting was coordinated by Monsignor Zenildo Lima (Vice President of CEAMA and President of the Organizing Committee of the Meeting of Bishops) and Monsignor Eugenio Coter (Secretary of the Organizing Committee of the Meeting of Bishops), together with the bishops representing Brazil, Colombia, Bolivia, Venezuela, Peru, Ecuador and the Antilles.
Three keys to the Amazonian path
During the day, Monsignor Zenildo Lima, Brazilian bishop and president of the Organizing Commission, shared three fundamental elements that guide the preparation of this important ecclesial milestone:
- Proximity to local churches: One of the main objectives is for CEAMA to strengthen its proximity to the concrete realities of the Amazonian territory, strengthening ties with the communities and particular Churches that comprise it.
- Retaking the path of the Amazon Synod: Almost six years after the Synod and five years afterDear Amazon, the Meeting seeks to revitalize the synodal process in the context of an ecclesial conference, not from a logic of institutionality, but as generation of living processes from the grassroots.
- Define concrete steps for the pastoral journey: It is expected that the Meeting will not only be a space for reflection, but also provide clear pastoral clues and decisions for the future of the Church in the Pan-Amazonian region.
Representative presence and synodal spirit
Participated in this meeting Bishop Zenildo Lima (Auxiliary Bishop – Archdiocese of Manaus, Brazil), Bishop Neri José Tondello (Diocese of Juína – Brazil), Bishop Omar Mejía (Archdiocese of Florence, Colombia), Bishop Eugenio Coter(Apostolic Vicariate of Pando/Reyes, Bolivia), Bishop Jonny Eduardo Reyes (Apostolic Vicariate of Puerto Ayacucho,Venezuela), Bishop Francis Alleyne (Diocese of Georgetown, Guyana), Bishop Martín Quijano (Apostolic Vicariate of Pucallpa, Peru), Bishop Celmo Lazzari (Apostolic Vicariate of Napo, Ecuador), Cecilia Barja, (Manager of the Bishops’ Meeting, Bolivia), and Marcelo Lemos (Executive Secretary of CEAMA, Colombia/Brazil).
Together, they shared contributions from their territories and reaffirmed the importance of this space as an opportunity to communally discern the pastoral horizon of the Amazonian Church, in communion with the journey of CEAMA and in tune with the dreams ofDear Amazon.
CEAMA is thus preparing for a Meeting that will be memory, discernment and projection: a Church that continues to walk with its people, attentive to the cries of the earth and open to the new paths of the Spirit.