With thousands of communities scattered across one of the most extensive and diverse territories on the planet, the Catholic Church has one of its most challenging missions in the Amazon. Between accompanying the peoples and defending our common home, the region has become a pastoral reference point for an increasingly synodal and missionary Church.
By Julio Caldeira IMC/REPAM *
In the vast Amazonian territory, there are 105 ecclesiastical jurisdictions distributed across Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, French Guiana, Peru, Suriname, and Venezuela. Within them are 2,581 parishes, pastoral zones, or missionary areas, in addition to thousands of basic ecclesial communities that sustain pastoral life in often remote territories. According to the Annuario Pontificio, the Church’s mission in the region is animated by 25,710 lay pastoral workers, 5,041 religious women, 4,206 priests, 2,329 religious men, 297 permanent deacons, and 166 bishops.
Episcopal reality
In the unpublished research carried out for the book “Advance to Deeper Waters: Synodal Paths of the Church in the Amazon,” published by Editorial CELAM (2025) and updated on March 10, 2026, of the 166 bishops serving in the region, 73 are diocesan and 93 belong to religious congregations. Of these, 100 were born in the same countries where they exercise their ministry and 66 come from other countries, reflecting the missionary character of the Amazonian Church. The jurisdictions include 11 archdioceses, 52 dioceses, 8 prelatures, 25 apostolic vicariates, 7 auxiliary bishops, and one coadjutor bishop, while nine jurisdictions are currently vacant. Among the religious congregations with the largest episcopal presence are the Franciscans (OFM) with 17 bishops, Salesians with 11, Redemptorists with 7, and Augustinian Recollects and Capuchins with 6 each.
The average age of bishops in the Amazon is 70.7 years; excluding emeritus bishops, the average drops to 63.9 years. Among the youngest are Colombians Monsignor Jesús Alberto Torres, bishop of San José del Guaviare, aged 50.8, and Monsignor William Prieto Daza, bishop of San Vicente del Caguán, aged 51.2. Among the oldest are Bishop José Vieira de Lima TOR, bishop emeritus of São Luiz de Cáceres (Brazil), aged 94.8, and Bishop Julián García Centeno OSA, of Iquitos (Peru), aged 92.4.
Consecrated Life and Active Laity
Consecrated life has a significant presence in the Amazon region through 665 female congregations and 297 male congregations, according to the mapping carried out by REPAM. Since the beginning of evangelization, religious men and women have been present in the most remote territories, facing multiple challenges and offering a testimony of hope and resilience.
Their mission is not limited to spiritual accompaniment: they also promote educational, social, and community processes that seek to transform reality based on Gospel values. Amazonian communities are sustained mainly thanks to the commitment of thousands of lay ministers—mostly women—who keep the faith alive, animate pastoral life, and accompany communities in territories marked by isolation and a shortage of ordained ministers.
In this context, the guidelines of the Amazon Synod and the apostolic exhortation Querida Amazonía promote the strengthening of a more lay, ministerial, and synodal Church, capable of closely accompanying the life of Amazonian communities, with a diversity of gifts and ministries.
A synodal journey
The Church in the Amazon has undergone a long process of pastoral transformation. From its origins in the colonial era to the guidelines of the Second Vatican Council, it has gradually developed a pastoral approach that is increasingly inculturated, participatory, and missionary. Between 1971 and 2013, there was a proliferation of meetings and reflections that helped to consolidate a common ecclesial vision for the region, such as those held in Iquitos, Santarém, Pucallpa, Manaus, Fusagasugá, Aparecida, and Puyo.
With the pontificate of Pope Francis, this process gained new momentum with the creation of the Pan-Amazonian Ecclesial Network (REPAM) in 2014. The result of this journey was the convocation of the Synod for the Amazon (2017-2019), which was notable for its extensive process of listening, dialogue, and discernment in the territories. This journey culminated in the Final Document of the Synod and the apostolic exhortation Querida Amazonía, which today inspire the pastoral journey and mission of the Church in the region.
One of the most significant fruits of this process was the creation, in 2020, of the Ecclesial Conference of the Amazon (CEAMA), the first ecclesial—and not only episcopal—instance in the recent history of the Church, which brings together bishops, consecrated life, priests, and laity in the same space of pastoral discernment.
The Pan-Amazon region, source of life
The Amazon occupies 47.5% of the territory of South America, with approximately 8.47 million km², extending across eight countries and French Guiana. This region is of vital importance for the balance of the planet: it is home to about 20% of the world’s fresh water, one-third of the existing genetic material, and vast expanses of primary forests.
More than 40 million people live in this territory, including between 3 and 4 million indigenous people belonging to about 390 peoples, who speak more than 240 languages. Added to these are peasant, Afro-descendant, riverine, and diverse urban communities, which make up the cultural richness of the region.
The Amazon plays a key role in regulating rainfall in South America and global atmospheric flows. However, it is also one of the regions most vulnerable to climate change. Deforestation, mining, hydrocarbon exploitation, and other unsustainable economic models seriously threaten its ecosystems and the ways of life of its peoples.
Faced with this reality, the defense of life in the Amazon and of those who inhabit it requires a profound personal, social, and structural conversion, with the active participation of all. As Pope Francis reminds us: “in the exchange of gifts, the Spirit leads us ever more to truth and goodness” (Evangelii Gaudium, 250).
* Fr. Julio Caldeira is a Consolata missionary in the Colombian Amazon. Vice-president of the Pan-Amazonian Ecclesial Network (REPAM), he is the author of the books Avancen para aguas más profundas (Advance to Deeper Waters) and Iglesia con rostro amazónico (Church with an Amazonian Face), published by Editorial CELAM in 2025.