With hearts full of hope and a vivid memory of the 2019 Amazon Synod, the bishops of the Amazon region are preparing for a new moment of listening, communion, and pastoral discernment. From August 17 to 20, Bogotá will host the first Meeting of Bishops of the Amazon since that synodal event that profoundly marked the universal Church and, in a special way, the Churches that pilgrimage in this vital region of the planet.
Rafael Cob, Bishop of the Apostolic Vicariate of Puyo (Ecuador) and current president of the Panamazon Ecclesial Network (REPAM), expresses with clarity and conviction what this new step represents in the joint journey of the Church in the Amazon:
“The Amazon Synod marked a turning point. This meeting strengthens our dreams and keeps alive the Pan-Amazonian spirit that drives us to continue articulating our thoughts and desires for the benefit of our peoples.”
Dreaming together again, as a Church on the move
For Monsignor Cob, this meeting will be a decisive moment to revive synodality, share the progress of each particular Church, and strengthen the collective commitment to the Amazonian peoples. “Dreams dreamed together are easier to realize,” he affirms with hope, echoing a certainty that emerges from the pastoral and missionary journey of recent decades.
This space for episcopal communion seeks not only to review the fruits of the Synod, but also to plan common actions to address the multiple challenges facing the Amazon: state abandonment, threats from extractive industries, climate change, the criminalization of Indigenous leaders, and the weakening of ancestral cultures.
An active, fraternal and synodal hope
What the bishops carry in their hearts when they arrive in Bogotá is a profound missionary hope, as Bishop Cob puts it:
“We bring hope to a Church that continues to grow stronger in fraternity. The Amazon, as Pope Francis said, is an ecclesial laboratory that today illuminates the paths the Church wishes to follow following the Synod on synodality.”
This “Amazonian face” of the Church is not a simple pastoral adjective, but a real commitment to a Church inserted, incarnated, servant and prophetic, who walks alongside the people, listens to their cries, defends their rights and allows themselves to be challenged by their knowledge.
The Amazon: a prophetic sign for the entire Church
The journey in recent years has been fruitful. Bishop Cob recognizes the central role played by Pope Francis’s teachings in illuminating this process, especially with the encyclicals Laudato Sí´, Laudate Deaum and the apostolic exhortation Dear Amazon, these documents have offered not only an ethical compass, but also a spiritual and pastoral roadmap.
“We are greatly inspired by the call for an integral ecology and the dreams of Dear Amazon, which remain valid. We are also encouraged by the unity between CEAMA and REPAM, two sisters who journey together, sailing out into the deep to respond to the challenge of a fragmented, marginalized, and forgotten world,” the bishop notes.
From REPAM, Monsignor Cob also highlights the work of the base ecclesial communities, the work for human rights and the growing confidence of the indigenous peoples in a Church that does not look from afar, but rather walks with them, accompanies their processes and defends their territories.
A voice to awaken the Churches and society
When asked what he expects from this meeting, Bishop Rafael Cob is emphatic:
“We hope that the Episcopal Conferences of our countries will turn their attention to the Amazon. May we not turn a blind eye or turn a deaf ear to the great challenges facing our peoples.”
This call is not only internal, but also a message to the world: The Amazon cannot continue to be treated as a periphery, nor geographical, nor existential. It is time for ecclesial communion to translate into greater co-responsibility, for the particular Churches to support each other, for networking to be strengthened, and for the peace, justice, and fraternity that the Amazonian peoples so yearn for to be sown with hope.
Bishop Cob concludes his testimony by invoking the God of life and creation:
“We ask the Creator to allow us to preserve his work, respond to the signs of the times and walk together, with the strength of the Spirit, in this kairos that we are living.”
This meeting convened by CEAMA will undoubtedly be a new stage in the journey of a Church with an Amazonian face, deeply committed to the cry of the earth and the cries of the poor. A time to listen, discern, and renew the dream of a living, just, and communion Amazon.