In the context of International Women’s Day, Sister Laura Vicuña, Vice President of CEAMA, shares a profound reflection on what it means to be a woman in the Amazon today: a vocation of resistance, hope, and care for life in a territory marked by multiple threats.
Being a woman in the Amazon: a voice that defends life
“Being a woman in the Amazon means being a voice of resistance in defense of existence and coexistence in a threatened biome. It means being a voice of hope that denounces and cries out loudly that, despite everything, life prevails.”
Amid environmental and social devastation, Amazonian women embody a prophetic rebellion that proclaims that the more difficult the times, the stronger the hope must be, as Pedro Casaldáliga used to remind us.
Sister Laura sums up this identity in three words:
• Resistance that does not give up.
• Hope, from the verb to give hope.
• Caregivers of life.
In the face of projects of death, the force of life
The Amazon today suffers countless threats: extractive mining, logging, human trafficking, deforestation, commodification of rivers, land, and bodies. These are true “projects of death” that jeopardize biodiversity and the dignity of peoples.
In this scenario, women—indigenous, riverine, peasant, Afro-descendant, and urban—have become protagonists in the defense of territory and rights. With the most precious gift they carry with them—strength and courage in the defense of life—they sustain community processes, lead organizations, accompany their peoples, and fight for justice and peace.
Message to the world: seeds of hope
From the heart of the Amazon, women send a clear message to the world:
“We are seeds of hope in a world torn apart by wars and injustices that ravage humanity. We are earth, air, forest, and water. We carry within us the force of life. Let us maintain our confidence and the utopia of another possible world, because no one can steal this dream from us or prevent us from dreaming.”
It is a call not to give in to fear or violence, and to uphold utopia as an ethical and spiritual horizon.
Message to the Church: inclusion for true synodality
Sister Laura Vicuña also highlights an urgent ecclesial challenge: the full inclusion of women in all areas of the Church.
“The inclusion of women in all ecclesial spaces is key to the transformation of the Church. This requires a true pastoral and synodal conversion that recognizes the charisms and ministries that many women already exercise, based on their baptismal dignity.”
Among the dreams shared by many Amazonian women are:
• Explicit recognition of the service they already perform in the Church.
• Greater prominence in ecclesial life.
• Real inclusion in decision-making spaces.
• The restoration of the female diaconate as a sign of an authentically synodal, ecclesial, and ministerial Church.
On this International Women’s Day, CEAMA reaffirms its commitment to an Amazonian Church where women are recognized as full subjects of the mission, guardians of the territory, and bearers of hope.
Because in the Amazon, when a woman resists, life flourishes.