Report of the Secretary General Card. Lorenzo Baldisseri

Original article published by the Amazon Synod

Introduction

Most Holy Father,

Eminences, Excellencies,

Brothers and sisters,

It is with immense joy that I take the floor in this inaugural session of the Special Assembly of the Synod of Bishops for the Pan-Amazonian Region, gathered in the name of Jesus Christ and dedicated to the theme « Amazonia: new paths for the Church and for an integral ecology». I warmly thank Your Holiness for having wanted to entrust to the Synod of Bishops the reflection on a subject of such extraordinary importance for the Church that lives in Panamazzonia and for the present and the future of all humanity. My thanks also include a special gratitude for the recent appointment of the Pro-Secretary General of the Synod of Bishops in the person of the Most Exc. Mario Grech, to whom I address a cordial and fraternal welcome. He embodies himself in our synodal path by joining me in the guidance of the General Secretariat and is therefore counted among Members of this worthy Synod.

The theme assigned by Your Holiness to this Special Assembly discloses vast horizons to reflect deeply on the Amazon, that garden of immense riches and natural resources, mother earth of indigenous peoples with a history and an unmistakable face, territory extremely threatened by ambition huge man instead of being treated.  

Under the guidance of the Spirit we want to go in search of new paths to correspond to a double objective. On the one hand, the Synod constitutes a real challenge for the Church, since the Amazon is a mission land with its own characteristics that require adequate proposals to respond to the ” need to evangelize cultures to inculturate the Gospel ” ( EG 69). On the other hand, the synodal assembly will have to face the provocation advanced by the environmental question. The Church intends to respond to it with an integral ecology that, as Your Holiness has taught us, ” requires openness to categories that transcend the language of the exact sciences or of biology and connect us with the essence of the human ” ( LS 11).

 The Synod Assembly, which today is entering into its celebratory phase, is also a real challenge for all the People of God, Pastors and flocks, and in particular for all of us who have received, as a gift from Providence, the call to participate. To have the precise orientation of this synodal path, it is opportune to recall what the Holy Father has indicated, from the beginning of this convocation, namely: “to identify new ways for the evangelization of that portion of the People of God, especially of the indigenous, often forgotten and without the prospect of a peaceful future, also due to the crisis of the Amazon forest, a lung of capital importance for our planet“. [1] Consequently, not only must we, first and foremost, listen to the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor, as it is there that the voice of the Spirit is heard that speaks through the People of God in the Amazon, but we must also respond with heart of pastors to their problems through appropriate proposals and good suggestions to the Holy Father.

      In introducing the synodal works, I would also like to address a cordial greeting to the Members and other participants of this Special Panamazonic Assembly, who have come from all the particular Churches of that Region, distant in distance but close in our hearts. With this Synod, the universal Church, through its Pastors cum Petro and sub Petro , in the person of Pope Francis, wants to pay particular attention to all the members of the People of God in the Amazon and to commit themselves decisively to the search for new and proportionate ways to the their human and pastoral needs.

1) The specific characteristics of a Special Assembly

      Before entering the actual celebratory path of this synodal assembly it is important to remember that we are celebrating a synod with particular characteristics, not only because of the specificity of the theme, but also because it is a special assembly. Therefore, it is not an Ordinary General Assembly, such as the one on the family and young people (2015 and 2018 respectively), not even an Extraordinary General Assembly, like that first Synod on the family (2014).  

This, instead, is a Special Assembly, a typology of Synod which, according to the Apostolic Constitution Episcopalis Communio , is convened in a Special Assembly, for ” dealt with matters that relate more to one or more specific geographical areas ” (Art. 1, 3rd). Furthermore, the Synod Instruction provides in Art. 20 that the Regulations of the Special Assembly may provide that the commissions, bodies and methods may be established, case by case, according to the particular characteristics of each Assembly of this type.

The peculiarities of a Special Assembly concern two aspects: the participation criteria, and the modality of the three synodal phases: the preparatory, the celebratory and the applicative. As for the criteria for participation, they are established in analogy with the other types of synodal assemblies, but taking into account the geographical, cultural and ecclesial specificity of the area in question, in this case the large region called Panamazzonia. This explains first of all that one of the criteria established since the beginning is the participation of all the Ordinaries – those equivalent to them according to the law – of the Amazonian ecclesiastical districts or those that have an Amazon territory, to which the Auxiliaries have also been added. Therefore, it is not a partial representation of the Bishops, as happens in the Ordinary and Extraordinary General Assemblies, but in this case they are all, precisely all the prelates of the region, to be summoned. This criterion intends to further highlight the effective and affective collegiality, which is the spirit of that distinctive characteristic of the synodal institution, defined precisely as “synodality ”.

Secondly, every Special Assembly, even if it concerns a specific geographical area, is always a Synod that concerns the Universal Church. For this reason, participation was extended to prelates from other particular Churches and regional and continental ecclesial bodies. In other words, it is the whole universal Church that wants to turn its gaze to the Church in the Amazon and take to heart what its challenges, concerns and problems are, because in the end we must all feel part of this global village in which it lives and the one Church of Jesus Christ throbs. Therefore, the Special Assembly for the Panamazonic Region is an expression of the concern of the whole Church for the people of God in that region, because, even in the Church, “everything is connected” ( LS91), as Your Holiness often teaches us, and as the Apostle Paul states ” if one member suffers, all the members suffer together; and if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with him “( 1 Co 12,26).

For this reason, the Special Assembly, even if it concerns a specific region, is celebrated in Rome, the See of the Successor of Peter, and not in some cities of the Panamazzonica Region, as a purely worldly vision might suggest. Here the perspective is different, it is that of faith, which invites us to look at the Church in its universality and at the same time in its realization at the local level. It is a Synod that has set the whole universal Church in motion, on the Synod and in prayer under the guidance of her Supreme Pastor. This is what we wanted to highlight with this morning’s procession, which started from the altar of Peter’s Confession in the Vatican Basilica up to the door of the Paul VI Hall.

2) The participants of the Special Assembly

Altogether, 185 Synod Fathers take part in this Synod : 137 ex officio of which 113 from the Pan-Amazonian ecclesiastical circumscriptions; 13 Heads of the Dicasteries of the Roman Curia; all the members of the pre-Synodal Council. Furthermore, there are 15 religious elected by the Union of Superiors General, and 33 former members of the pontifical nomination .

Among the Synod Fathers there are 28 Cardinals, 29 Archbishops, 63 residential Bishops, 7 Auxiliaries, 27 Apostolic Vicars and 10 Prelate Bishops, 21 Members not awarded the diocesan and religious episcopal order.

Given that the Panamazzonica Region extends over the territory of nine nations (French Guiana, Cooperativist Republic of Guyana, Surinam, Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Brazil, Bolivia, Peru), the ex officio Synod Fathers who come from that Region belong to 7 Conferences Episcopals: Antilles, Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Brazil, Bolivia, Peru. Thus, among the 113 Synod Fathers of the Pan-Amazonian ecclesiastical circumscriptions there are 3 from the Antilles, 6 from Venezuela, 13 from Colombia, 7 from Ecuador, 57 from Brazil, 11 from Bolivia, 10 from Peru, as well as the respective Presidents of the aforementioned Conferences Episcopal.

The thirty-three (33) members of pontifical appointment come from all continents, in particular from countries and geographical areas involved in the same problems that constitute the subject of the synodal theme; such as the Congo river basin. Thus, this Assembly wants to reflect the wide spectrum of cultural and ecclesial realities in which sensibilities are reflected and the voices of different ethnic groups and original peoples resound, as well as the breath of a living Church that has so much to give and to receive.

I take this opportunity to cordially greet the six (6) Fraternal Delegates, representatives of other Churches and Ecclesial Communities, whose presence revives in us the will to work together to achieve the full visible unity of the Church of Christ, in the knowledge that Holy Spirit continually raises new paths and opens new doors to announce and witness to the Gospel of Jesus Christ in the Amazon and throughout the world.

Also significant is the presence of 12 special guests – never so many in a special assembly – who have been chosen for the synod works because of their high scientific competence and also because they belong to organizations and associations throughout the world, outside and inside the Church, they are interested in various ways in various activities related to humanitarian assistance and the ecological care of the environment.

My heartfelt thanks also extend to the twenty-five (25) Experts, appointed by virtue of their expertise to contribute to the synodal work as collaborators of the Special Secretaries, and to the fifty-five (55) Auditors and Auditors, including specialists and operators of pastoral from the most remote corners of the Panamazzonico territory. Among them emerges the presence of 16 representatives of different indigenous ethnic groups and original peoples who carry the voice, the living testimony of the traditions, culture and faith of their populations. Thanks to all of them! No less significant is the presence among the Sisters of as many as 10 religious presented by the International Union of Superiors General (UISG), testifying to the important role that women’s consecrated life has in Amazonia.

Finally, a special thanks to the Assistants, Translators, Technical Staff, as well as to the Consultors, Officials and Collaborators of the General Secretariat of the Synod of Bishops, who – under the guidance and coordination of the Most Holy Under-Secretary, Mons Fabio Fabene – they have worked with competence and spirit of service in the preparation and celebration of the Assembly.

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