From August 17 to 20, the Ecclesial Conference of the Amazon (CEAMA) will bring together pastors from across the region to strengthen their common mission for life, justice, and our Common Home.
A few days before the start of the Meeting of Bishops of the Amazon, which will take place in Bogotá (Colombia), expectations are growing throughout the Amazonian Church. It will be the first time since the Pan-Amazonian Synod in 2019 that the bishops of the region will meet in person to discern together the challenges and pastoral paths that will guide the mission in the coming years.
For Monsignor Lizardo Estrada, auxiliary bishop of Cusco (Peru) and secretary general of CELAM, this is a moment of great significance:
“It is a meeting of utmost importance, both for the People of God on pilgrimage in the Amazon and for the entire People of God. The Pan-Amazonian Synod provided important proposals for new paths for the Church and for Integral Ecology, embodied in Querida Amazonía with the social, cultural, ecological, and ecclesial dreams that continue to mark our journey.”
Monsignor Estrada arrives in Bogotá with gratitude and enthusiasm to continue strengthening synodality, ecclesiality, and episcopal collegiality in the Pan-Amazon region, convinced that “it is time for a Church that listens, cares, and reconciles.”
The Peruvian bishop recognizes the progress made in recent years:
“The pastoral action of missionaries in the Amazon has led to the creation of REPAM (Pan-Amazonian Ecclesial Network) and other networks on the continent such as REMAM (Mesoamerican Ecclesial Network) and REGCHAG (Ecclesial Network of the Gran Chaco and the Guaraní Aquifer). We have undergone a process of listening and discernment that has had a positive influence on the Latin American episcopate as a whole, encouraging a response to the cry of the earth, of the poor, and of the indigenous peoples.”
From this meeting, Bishop Estrada hopes that joint reflection on the signs of the times will lead to the strengthening of synodal structures and coordinated pastoral planning for the benefit of thousands of indigenous, rural, and riverine communities.
“It is a question of consolidating a Church that is closer, more prophetic, and committed to the defense of rights, territories, cultures, and good living, with a pastoral presence, contextualized accompaniment, and social actions in defense of life and our Common Home. In this, CELAM wants to collaborate actively.”
This meeting of Amazonian bishops will be a new step on the path laid out by the Synod for the Amazon and by CEAMA, reaffirming that caring for the Amazon is caring for the very heart of life on our planet.