The leader of the world’s 1.3 billion Roman Catholics, Pope Francis, has urged bishops to boldly shake up the status quo as they chart ways to better care for the Amazon and its indigenous people amid threats from forest fires, development and what he called ideological “ashes of fear”.
Pope Francis opened a three-week meeting on preserving the rainforest and ministering to its native people as he fended off attacks from conservatives who are opposed to his ecological agenda.
R
euters Newsagency reports the Roman Catholic leader celebrated an opening Mass in St Peter’s Basilica in Rome with global attention newly focused on the forest fires that are devouring the Amazon, which scientists say is a crucial bulwark against global warming.
On hand for the service were indigenous people from several tribes, some with their faces painted and wearing feathered headdresses, as well as more than 180 South American cardinals, bishops and priests, who donned green vestments like the pope.
They travelled to Rome from the region for three weeks of debate at a special synod, or meeting, that has become one of the most controversial of Pope Francis’ papacy.
Among the most contentious proposals on the agenda is whether married elders could be ordained priests to address the chronic priest shortages in the region.
Reuters reports currently indigenous Catholics in remote parts of the Amazon can go months without seeing a priest or having a proper Mass.
A
nother proposal calls for the church to identify new “official ministries” for women, though organisers have made clear that priestly ordination is off the table.
Pope Francis’ conservative critics, including a handful of cardinals, have called the proposals “heretical” and an invitation to a “pagan” religion that idolises nature rather than God.
They have mounted an opposition campaign, issuing petitions and holding conferences to raise their voices.
Yet in his homily, Pope Francis urged the Amazonian bishops to go boldly forward, urging they be “prudent” but not “timid” as they discern new ways to protect the environment and minister to the faithful.
He drew a distinction between the “fire” of missionary zeal and fires that aim to carve out the rainforest for agricultural uses.
“The fire set by interests that destroy, like the fire that recently devastated Amazonia, is not the fire of the Gospel,” he said.
“The fire of God is warmth that attracts and gathers into unity. It is fed by sharing, not by profits.”
Reuters reports he prayed that God’s “daring prudence” would inspire the bishops to bold action to protect the region.
“If everything continues as it was, if we spend our days content that ‘this is the way things have always been done,’ then the gift vanishes, smothered by the ashes of fear and concern for defending the status quo,” he said.
EcoNews is an independent publication that relies on contributions from its readers.
WE’RE BUILDING A PLATFORM WITH A CLEAR FOCUS ON THE ENVIRONMENT, CULTURAL AND SOCIAL GOOD. CONTRIBUTE AND TOGETHER WE CAN MAKE AN IMPACT.
