Symbolic gesture from the Bogotá meeting reaffirms commitment to the defense of life, peoples, and the Common Home
During the Meeting of Bishops of the Amazon, held in Bogotá from August 17 to 20, participants sent Pope Leo XIV two significant gifts: the Amazon cross and the dove of peace, symbols of communion, hope, and commitment to the defense of the Common Home and peace.
The Amazonian cross: life springing from pain
During the meeting, the bishops received Amazonian crosses made by Bolivian craftsman José Dorado, from San Miguel de Velasco. There are 130 pieces made from wood from trees burned in the Chiquitanía, a region of Bolivia that has been severely affected by forest fires.
Blessed by Monsignor Robert Flock, bishop of San Ignacio de Velasco, the crosses represent the pain of the wounded earth and, at the same time, the hope that life can be reborn from suffering. This gesture seeks to keep alive the memory of the 2.8 million hectares destroyed in 2024, the worst year of fires in two decades in the Amazon.
The dove, messenger of peace
The second gift, the “dove of peace,” was brought from Peru by Carmen de los Ríos and is wrapped in fabric from the Ashaninka native community. Made by Andean peoples, it symbolizes the desire that “from the Amazon we pray for peace.” A universal symbol of peace, the dove in the Catholic tradition represents the Holy Spirit, a symbol of purity, peace, and divine presence.
Cardinal Pedro Barreto, president of CEAMA, emphasized that this sign invites us to be instruments of the Holy Spirit, to strengthen missionary service, and to recognize indigenous peoples as guardians of our Common Home.
Sent to Pope Leo XIV
Both gifts were presented to Cardinal Michael Czerny, prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development and the Vatican representative at the meeting. During the closing Eucharist in the Primatial Cathedral of Bogotá on August 20, Czerny received the cross and the dove on behalf of the bishops, promising to deliver them personally to Pope Leo XIV in Rome.
With this gesture, the bishops of the Amazon reaffirm their mission to be builders of peace and custodians of creation, in communion with the entire universal Church.
Meeting of bishops of the Amazon
For four days, 90 bishops from 75 Amazonian jurisdictions, convened by the Ecclesial Conference of the Amazon (CEAMA), together with representatives of organizations such as CELAM, CLAR, Caritas ALC, REPAM, the Dicastery for Integral Human Development, and several episcopal conferences, participated in the CEAMA meeting held in Bogotá. The days were marked by moments of listening, prayer, and dialogue, in which participants shared the progress, challenges, and resistance encountered in the synodal process. According to the organizers, the purpose was to present concrete proposals that would consolidate CEAMA’s mission as an ecclesial body capable of accompanying the communities of the region more closely.
In this context, Cardinal Leonardo Steiner, Archbishop of Manaus, delivered a message encouraging participants to rediscover the power of following Jesus as the driving force behind pastoral commitment and the Church’s mission in the Amazon. “This was not about a new organization, but about a spirit that renews and gives meaning to our way of being Church,” he said, emphasizing the spiritual dimension that gave identity to the meeting.
By Julio Caldeira, imc