As part of the preparations for the 7th American Missionary Congress (CAM7), to be held in Brazil in 2029, the Pontifical Mission Societies of the Americas continue to promote opportunities for gathering to highlight the witness of those who proclaim the Gospel in different regions of the continent.
At the second meeting of the Project to Highlight Testimonies of the Mission Ad Gentes, held on June 24, 2026, the community behind the project “Argentine Church, the Amazon Is Your Mission” shared its evangelization experience in the Peruvian Amazon, demonstrating how the mission is strengthened when lived out through fraternity, interculturality, and service to the Amazonian peoples.
A Journey That Began with CAM6
During the opening of the meeting, Ángel David, a member of the organizing team and a collaborator with the Pontifical Mission Societies, recalled that this initiative emerged as one of the fruits of the Sixth American Missionary Congress (CAM6), held in Puerto Rico in 2024.
He explained that the purpose is to offer, month by month, a space where missionaries can share their experiences of evangelization, strengthening missionary outreach across the continent and paving the way toward CAM7.
“Many missionaries have deeply evangelizing testimonies, but often we are unaware of them. This project aims to be a platform to highlight the richness of those experiences,” he noted.
“Argentine Church, the Amazon is Your Mission”
The project was presented by Silvana Medina Cornú, a member of the National Team of the Pontifical Mission Societies in Argentina.
She explained that this initiative arose in response to the call made by Pope Francis during the Synod for the Amazon and to the aspirations expressed in the apostolic exhortation *Querida Amazonía*, urging the Argentine Church to make a concrete commitment to the mission in the Amazonian territories.
The project, supported by the Pontifical Mission Societies and the Argentine Episcopal Conference, began to take shape in 2019 through a process of discernment, awareness-raising, formation, and accompaniment of the missionaries sent out.
The mission is currently underway in the Peruvian Amazon, where a team of priests, religious sisters, and laypeople shares daily life with local communities, in close collaboration with the local Church.
Living the Mission as a Community
One of the first testimonies came from Father Gabriel Mora, a priest from the Diocese of Neuquén (Argentina), who has been part of the missionary community established in Quimbiri, in the Peruvian jungle, since February of this year.
The missionary explained that the first few months have been devoted to learning about the culture, getting to know the region, and building close relationships with the Amazonian communities.
“I am very happy, filled with joy, and eager to share in this community project. I did not come alone; we came as a missionary community, and that represents a great challenge,” he said.
For the priest, one of the greatest lessons has been discovering the richness of living out the mission alongside other missionaries.
“Sometimes there are few of us priests, and we work alone in our parishes.
Thinking about the mission as a community is a blessing and a challenge at the same time, but it also does a great deal of good for the communities,” he affirmed.
Gabriel Mora noted that this time in the Amazon represents only the first steps of a process he is experiencing with enthusiasm and a spirit of learning, convinced that the mission requires closeness, listening, and a deep ability to walk alongside the peoples.
A Church That Learns from the Amazon
The testimonies shared during the gathering reflected that the mission ad gentes in the Amazon consists not only of bringing the Gospel but also of allowing oneself to be evangelized by the peoples, learning from their cultures, and building communities where faith is lived out through fraternity and care for our Common Home.
The experience of the project “Argentine Church, the Amazon Is Your Mission” highlights a Church that reaches out, responding to the call to strengthen the missionary presence in Amazonian territories by promoting evangelization marked by closeness, communion, and shared work.
On this journey toward CAM7 Brazil 2029, initiatives such as this series of testimonies seek to inspire new generations of missionaries and to remind us that mission remains a living vocation for the entire Church, especially where peoples continue to await concrete signs of hope and fraternity.