During the Meeting of Bishops of the Pan-Amazon Region, Ecuadorian indigenous leader Patricia Gualinga said that the work of the Ecclesial Conference of the Amazon (CEAMA) is to accompany and work in networks.
“I believe that our role is not to execute, we work hand in hand with the Pan-Amazonian Ecclesial Network (REPAM) and, therefore, the presence of the bishops here at the meeting is important because they are the ones who are in the territory,” she said.
Gualinga is also vice president of CEAMA, an ecclesial entity that emerged from the Amazon Synod.
He pointed out that this body accompanies the territories.
Call to the bishops
At the end of the Amazon Synod (2019), Pope Francis created a post-synodal commission of which this indigenous leader was a member, along with bishops, religious women, and laypeople.
“After this post-synodal commission, with a very large assembly at the time of COVID-19, it became the Ecclesial Conference of the Amazon in order to be able to implement the fruits of the synod,” she explained.
Since then, it has been a great challenge for those who make up CEAMA, because “it is a construction and a process that has its successes and failures, but at this moment it is calling on the bishops to participate in this conference.”
The vast majority of those participating in this meeting took part in the Amazon Synod, so the decisions included in the final document are part of their contributions.
The role of women in the Amazonian Church
Regarding the role of women in the Amazonian Church, Gualinga explained that in the territories, women, especially religious women, play a fundamental role for the Church in the absence of many priests.
“With Laura Vicuña and Jessica Pachachi, we had a private audience with Pope Francis, where we spoke about the role of women and the recognition of women’s role in the territory,” she said.
She admits that this is “a journey” whose fruits will come “little by little” like any process; although it is slow, with “the breath of the Spirit” it will reach its destination with “the living presence of God in a Church with the face of Christ in the Amazon.”
This will only be possible by “opening our minds and hearts to let ourselves be guided by the Spirit.”