Within the framework of the 59th World Communications Day, the Ecclesial Conference of the Amazon (CEAMA), the Panamazonian Ecclesial Network (REPAM, the Amazonian Bilingual Intercultural Education Network (REIBA), and the Amazonian University Program (PUAM), we join the call of the universal Church to communicate with hope, especially from and to the Amazonian territories, where communication is life, is connection, is resistance.
The Amazon is not only a vital biome for the planet; it is also a symbolic territory where languages, cultures, spiritualities, and struggles intertwine. In this context, Communicating is not just transmitting information, but rather to weave networks of solidarity, raise the voices of the people, denounce injustices, and announce paths to a dignified life and care for our Common Home.
Listen before speaking
In line with Pope Francis’ message for this day, we remember that Good communication is born from deep listening. To listen to the Amazon is to open one’s heart to its cries: the cry of the earth wounded by extractivism, the pain of displaced peoples, but also the ancestral wisdom that cares for life and the spirituality that springs from the simple, the communal, the sacred in nature.
Hope that is communicated through everyday life
Communicating with hope does not mean covering up reality, but rather see it with the eyes of the Kingdom: Recognizing the small signs of transformation that flourish in the midst of adversity. In Amazonian communities, hope is communicated through songs, rituals, oral histories, the resilience of women, the commitment of young people, and faith embodied in the land.
In times of misinformation and hate speech, communication is urgently needed: ethical, liberating and participatory, which strengthens the identity of indigenous peoples and promotes interculturality. It is in this context that Amazonian communicators are called to be bridges, sowers of dialogue and builders of peace.
The Church’s communication mission in the Amazon
From CEAMA, REPAM, REIBA and PUAM,we encourage strengthening spaces and networks of popular, community and ecclesial communication in the Amazon, promoting a narrative that value the local, articulate the regional and dialogue with the global. We communicate with hope because we believe that another Amazon is possible, and because we know that the Gospel continues to walk barefoot and tenderly among the peoples who inhabit it.
On this World Communications Day, we reaffirm our commitment to communicate with soul, with face and with territory, making the word an act of love that transforms and humanizes.