2nd General Congregation: Summary by Vatican News

Original article published by the Amazon Synod

#SinodoAmazonico

Young people, protagonists of integral ecology

In the afternoon of Monday 7 October, the work of the Special Synod for the Panamazonic Region continued, in the presence of the Pope, with the 2nd General Congregation and with the elections of the members of the Commission for the preparation of the final document and of the Commission for the ‘information. 176 the Synod Fathers in the Chamber.

The four members of the Commission were elected  to draw up the final document of the Synod , with an absolute majority, by means of separate ballots. These are the  Monsignors Mario Antonio Da Silva, bishop of Roraima in Brazil; Héctor Miguel Cabrejos Vidarte, ofm, archbishop of Trujillo and president of the Bishops’ Conference of Peru; Nelson Jair Cardona Ramírez, bishop of San José del Guaviare in Colombia, and Sergio Alfredo Gualberti Calandrina, Archbishop of Santa Cruz de la Sierra, in Bolivia. 
Three other members will be chosen by the Pope.
Initially elected, Cardinal Carlos Aguiar Retes, archbishop of Mexico City, expressed the desire to give way to a synodal father from one of the seven Episcopal Conferences directly involved in the Amazon area.

The prelates elected are added to the rest of the Commission composed of the general rapporteur and president, Cardinal Claudio Hummes; by the general secretary of the Synod of Bishops, Cardinal Lorenzo Baldisseri; by the pro-secretary general, Monsignor Mario Grech; by the two special secretaries: Cardinal Michael Czerny and Monsignor David Martinez de Aguirre Guinea. Three other members of the pontifical nomination will be made official in the coming days.

Members of the Information Commission also elected 
The Synod then passed to the vote of four members of the Information Commission, elected by separate ballots with a relative majority. Monsignors Erwin Kräutler, c.pp.s., prelate emeritus of Xingu, in Brazil, were elected  ; Rafael Cob García, apostolic vicar of Puyo, Ecuador; José Ángel Divassón Cilveti, SDB, former Apostolic Vicar of Puerto Ayacucho in Venezuela and, finally, the Italian father Antonio Spadaro, director of “La Civiltà Cattolica” . 
These names are added to the team chaired by Paolo Ruffini, prefect of the Communication Department and composed of the secretary, Father Giacomo Costa; by the director of the Holy See Press Office Matteo Bruni; by the editorial director of the Communication Department Andrea Tornielli; by Sr. Maria Ines Lopes dos Santos, councilor of the Episcopal Commission for the Amazon of the Bishops’ Conference of Brazil and by Mauricio López Oropeza, executive secretary of the Pan-Amazonian Ecclesial Network.

Greta Thunberg and the protagonism of young people

Therefore, space for the interventions of the Synod Fathers, on different points of the Instrumentum Laboris. In continuity with the Synod on young people of 2018, the importance of youth protagonism in integral ecology was reflected, with the example of the young Swedish activist Greta Thunberg and the initiative “The strike for the climate”. The “option for young people”, the need to dialogue with them on the issues of safeguarding Creation have been recalled several times, together with the need to enhance the social commitment of children, capable of spurring the Church to be prophetic in this area. The young heart – it has been said – wants to build a better world, because the generation of young people represents a social doctrine in movement. More than many others, children today feel the need to establish a new relationship with Creation, a relationship that is not predatory, but that is attentive to the suffering of the planet. For this reason, the environmental theme – also of an ecumenical and inter-religious nature – must be perceived by the Church as a positive challenge, as an exhortation to dialogue with young people, helping them in the right discernment so that their commitment to safeguard Creation is not only a slogan “green and fashionable”, but it really becomes a question of life and death, for man and the planet.

Protection of aquifers

Furthermore, some Synod Fathers raised the appeal to protect aquifers from chemical contamination deriving from multinational productions, so that indigenous peoples can survive by preserving culture and following new paths of evangelization. The massive industrial mining activities have been cited in several interventions in the Chamber, with particular concern for the abuses committed by some companies, which have serious consequences for the indigenous peoples. For this reason, the bishops repeatedly recall the need to respect both human and environmental rights, because a true integral ecology requires a new balance between man and nature.

Fossil fuels and the climate issue

The gaze of the House also went to the climate issue whose changes are changing Creation. The climate is a global good, it has been said, an asset that must be protected and preserved for future generations. It has been suggested that we stop using fossil fuels, especially in the most industrialized countries, the main polluters. The House also reflected on the need to overcome those forms of colonialism that have characterized much of the mission of past centuries, in favor of preserving the cultural identities of the Amazon: every single culture, in fact, makes its contribution to the catholicity of the Church , constituted by respect and complementarity. And quoting St. John Paul II, the Synod Fathers recalled that Christ animates the very center of every culture. Because, basically, it was emphasized that the Church is a complex ecosystem with a “wonderful spiritual biodiversity” that is expressed in various communities, cultural expressions, forms of consecrated life and ministries. Several times, St. Paul was cited as the first Apostle of inculturation, the one who became “Greek among the Greeks”.

Indigenous rites

Space, moreover, for reflection on indigenous rites: the Church – it has been said – considers with benevolence everything that is not tied to superstitions, as long as it can harmonize with the true liturgical spirit. Hence the suggestion to start in the Amazon a process of sharing the experiences of those indigenous communities that have inculturated celebrations for some sacraments such as Baptism, marriage or priestly ordination. In this way, one of the proposals put forward was to think of establishing – ad experimentum and according to the right theological, liturgical and pastoral discernment – an Amazonian Catholic rite to live and celebrate faith in Christ. After all, it was emphasized in the Chamber, just as there is an environmental ecosystem, there is also an ecclesial ecosystem.

The viri probati

Finally, some interventions focused on the question of the so-called viri probati, described by the synodal work document as one of the proposals to frequently ensure the sacraments, where the lack of priests is particularly strong: it is a legitimate need – yes it is said in the Chamber – but that cannot affect a substantial rethinking of the nature of the priesthood and its relationship with celibacy, foreseen by the Church of the Latin rite. Rather, vocational pastoral care was suggested among the young indigenous people, so as to promote the evangelization of even the most remote areas of the Amazon, so that “first-class Catholics” cannot be created that can easily approach the Eucharist and “second-rate Catholics”. class “, destined to remain without the Bread of Life even for two years in a row.