The Amazon Synod: Putting Laudato Si’ Into Action

InterfaceTheology 6/2 2020

The Amazon Synod: Putting Laudato si’ into action

Bruce Duncan CSsR

With horrific fires raging through large sections of the Amazon forests, the Amazon Synod in 2019 attracted worldwide attention as local peoples pleaded for help to save their rainforests, an area covering 5.3 million square kilometres across nine countries1 and comprising more than a third of the planet’s primary forests. The media relayed images of massive fires destroying 9,060 square kilometres of rainforest, with accounts of the displacement and killing of indigenous and other peoples by outside forces. Until the debates during the 2007 decennial meeting of the Epis- copal Conferences of Latin America (CELAM) in Aparecida, Brazil, Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio (now Pope Francis) had not grasped the seriousness of the ecological issues, according to Austen Ivereigh in The Wounded Shepherd: Pope Francis and his Struggle to convert the Catholic Church. Before the opening of the general conference, Pope Benedict in an address to Brazilian youth ‘spoke of the devastation of Amazonia and its native peoples. Then at the shrine, he gave a speech that was applauded close to twenty times in which he said the option for the poor was implicit in a faith in a God who became poor for us.’2 Despite a small minority of bishops being appalled by Benedict’s affirmation, it ‘healed a long-standing wound left by the John Paul II years, when potentate cardinals in Rome had dismissed the option for the poor as warmed-over Marxism.’

1. Brazil with 60% of the Amazon forest, Peru with 13%, Colombia with 10%, with minor amounts in Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia, Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana. 2. Austen Ivereigh, The Wounded Shepherd: Pope Francis and his Struggle to Convert the Catholic Church (New York: Henry Holt & Co), 199–200.

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Now, in the general conference, the two priorities—ecology and the poor—began to converge. The Amazonian bishops’ searing testimonies dovetailed with the scientific data, and a clear picture began to take shape that the Church couldn’t ignore: the planet’s pain was borne by the land and the landless, while far-off foreigners reaped the rewards.

Until Aparecida, [Bergoglio’s] grasp of the environment issue, in his own account, had been limited, but when he heard the Brazilian bishops speak of the deforestation of Amazonia, he quickly got it. The Argentine and the Peruvian Jesuits . . . worked together in Aparecida to draft the relevant paragraphs of the document, casting the natural world as a precious gift of God needing protection from ‘economic and technological powers.’ . . . there could be no lasting response to the crisis of the environment without restoring a sense of the sacred.3

Bergoglio had long been committed to the poor in their struggles, but now integrated the environmental issues with the social. He was principal coordinator of the writing group which drew together the final Aparecida Document,4 which explicitly spelt out the ‘see, judge, act’ methodology underlying this and earlier CELAM documents. It was a crucial method of learning how to review critically one’s life and work situation, reflect on these in the light of some Scripture passages, and with the support of others become empowered to take action to change and improve conditions. Taking many different forms, the method promoted by Canon Joseph Cardijn in the Young Christian Workers movements developed one’s consciousness and a deeper sense of responsibility for others and society in general. On the world stage, Pope Francis has been one of the strongest voices calling for urgent action to avert ‘disastrous’ climate change, most notably in his 2015 encyclical, Laudato si’, named with the opening words of the famous Canticle of the Sun by St Francis of Assisi, ‘Praise to you Lord’. This encyclical can be seen as the Pope’s signature document; he constantly reiterates its messages at every opportunity, in his speeches, meetings with government and business representatives, international organisations and religious and church groups.

3. Ibid., 200. 4. Bruce Duncan, ‘Pope Francis’s Call for Social Justice in the Global Economy’, in Australasian Catholic Record, 91/2 (April 2014): 178–193. Bruce Duncan CSsR 49

The Amazon Synod in effect interpreted Laudato si’ for Amazonia and other parts of Latin America. Pope Francis on 15 October 2017 announced the special Synod for Amazonia, taking as its theme ‘New Paths for the Church and for an Integral Ecology’. He discussed holding such a synod with the bishops of Peru when meeting them in Rome in May 2017 and personally inaugurated part of the process when visiting the Peruvian Amazon on 19 January 2019. Pope Francis issued Laudato si’ with expert collaboration and advice from 200 or so people, and the Synod involved widespread consultation with Catholic and other groups through Amazonia. Its population of 33.4 million includes three million Indigenous people representing 390 different peoples. This was the first Synod involving a specific region, and -dem onstrated what Pope Francis was hoping for with his promotion of ‘synodality’. This is a process of carefully listening to the voices of the faithful with everyone seeking universal wellbeing, especially for the poor or excluded. Francis talks about hearing the instinct of faith, the ‘sensus fidei’ of the whole Church, and inviting all to be part of this process. It involves prayerful reflection on experience in the light of the Gospel and Church teaching to ‘discern’ what the Holy Spirit may be calling Catholics and others to do.

The Preparatory Document The Preparatory Document5 of 10,400 words with a questionnaire attached was prepared by theologians and other experts, especially from the Pan-Amazonian Church Network (REPAM)6 which man- aged extensive surveys of Amazon communities. The document was formally presented by the Vatican on 17 June 2018.

5. Amazonia: New Paths for the Church and for an Integral Ecology: Preparatory Document of the Synod of Bishops for the Special Assembly for the Pan-Amazon Region, (6 August 2018), https://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/en/ bollettino/pubblico/2018/06/08/180608a.html. Accessed 30 August 2019. 6. REPAM was established in 2014 at the request of Pope Francis to foster collaboration with the indigenous peoples of the Amazon and to mobilise Church resources in support of their struggle to defend their lands, their lives and their cultures against invasive commercial and political forces. REPAM is supported by Caritas Internationalis and CELAM, the Episcopal Conferences of Latin America. See https://www.caritas.org/what-we-do/development/repam/. Accessed 17 June 2020. 50 Interface Theology

The Preamble warned that the impending crisis in the Amazon transcended the ‘ecclesial-Amazonian sphere’ and concerned ‘the universal Church as well as the future of the entire planet’. The document outlined its methodology of ‘see, judge (discern) and act’, followed by questions for dialogue and ‘a progressive approach to the regional reality’. It included a focus on a development model ‘obsessed only with material goods and the idols of money and power’. ‘New ideological colonialisms hidden under the myth of progress’ were destroying cultures and the environment (#6). This initial document reflected strongly the views of Pope Francis from Laudato si’ and also from his address to 4000 Indigenous people at Puerto Maldonado in Peru on 19 January 2018.7 The document also acknowledged its debt to the decennial meetings of CELAM following the one in Medellin in 1968 and especially at Aparecida in 2007. Its key themes were the option for the poor and liberation, along with participation, insertion and inculturation (#7, 14). Quoting from Pope Francis’s Evangelii Gaudium of 2013, the Pre- paratory Document affirmed that evangelisation has a ‘clear social content’. ‘In fact, “from the heart of the Gospel we see the profound connection between evangelization and human advancement” (EG 177–78)’. ‘Accordingly, the task of evangelization invites us to strive against social inequalities and the lack of solidarity through the promotion of charity, justice, compassion, and care amongst ourselves and with animals, plants, and all creation.’ (#8). After outlining many of the problems facing the Amazon, it called for a ‘global perspective . . . in order to share responsibility for a common, global project.’ It quoted Francis as asserting that ‘Everything is connected’, and the world needed a global dialogue to develop a consensus about reach- ing ‘integral and sustainable development’. (#13).

The Working Document Some 87,000 people were involved with the process of consultation that followed, in parishes, dioceses and small communities in the

7. Pope Francis, ‘Meeting with Indigenous People of Amazonia’, 19 January 2018, https://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/speeches/2018/january/documents/ papa-francesco_20180119_peru-puertomaldonado-popoliamazzonia.html. Accessed 25 January 2018. Bruce Duncan CSsR 51

seven episcopal conferences involved. Some from other religious traditions also participated. The results were incorporated by the Gen- eral Secretariat of the Synod of Bishops and specialists into a text of over 21,000 words, twice as long as the preparatory document. It became the ‘Working Document’8 for the Bishops, along with some indigenous representatives and others who took part in the October Synod in Rome. The Working Document attempted to capture the ideas and voices of the thousands involved in consultations, endeavouring to listen to what the Holy Spirit was saying in these unique circumstances. Fol- lowing the proposal from REPAM, ‘the document is structured on the basis of three conversions to which Pope Francis invites us: the pastoral’ as in ‘Evangelii Gaudium (see-listen); the ecological conversion which the Encyclical Laudato si’ urges, setting the course (judge-act); and the conversion to church synodality . . . that guides the walking together (judge-act)’ (#5). The Working Document reported that ‘the threat to life comes from economic and political interests of the dominant sectors of today’s society, especially resource-extractive companies, often in col- lusion with or tolerated by local and national governments as well as traditional indigenous leaders.’ (#14). The peoples of the Amazon face assassination and criminalisation of leaders defending their territories and property, incursions from legal and illegal logging interests, predatory hunting and fishing, hydroelectric schemes, monoculture agriculture and mining, as well as problems from pollution, drug trafficking, violence against women and human trafficking among other dangers. (#15). Climate change from human intervention is pushing the Amazon to a tipping point, and desertification looms if tempera- tures continue to rise. ‘The number of martyrs in the Amazon is alarming (for example, in Brazil alone, 1,119 indigenous people were murdered between 2003 and 2017 for defending their territory). The Church cannot be indifferent . . .’ (#145). Care for life is ‘opposed to the throwaway culture, to the culture of exploitation, oppression and lying’, to ‘an insatiable vision of unlim-

8. Pan-Amazon Synod. The Working Document for the Synod of Bishops. New Paths for the Church and for Integral Ecology (17 June 2019), http://www. sinodoamazonico.va/content/sinodoamazonico/en/documents/pan-amazon- synod--the-working-document-for-the-synod-of-bishops.pdf. 52 Interface Theology

ited growth, of the idolatry of money, of a world disconnected from its roots and environment’. (#17). Listed after each section of the document were suggestions for action that the Church, governments, and civil society could take to adopt a more humane and sustainable livelihood for people in the Amazon. Among topics considered were migration within the Ama- zon, inadequate provision for health and education, especially for the Indigenous people (#98), and ‘corruption that snares the political, judicial, legislative, social, ecclesial and religious authorities who receive benefits in exchange for permitting the actions of these companies.’ (#81). To promote an indigenous Church with an indigenous face, the Working Document also asked that older indigenous married men be ordained and that women be given new roles of official ministry. (#129). Finally, it concluded with a plea: ‘Listen to the cry of “Mother Earth” assaulted and seriously wounded by the economic model of predatory and ecocidal [sic] development, that is formulated and imposed from the outside so as to serve powerful external interests, and which kills and plunders, destroys and devastates, expels and dis- cards.’ It called on the Amazon Church to promote ‘a new ecological awareness that leads us to change our consumption habits, to promote the use of renewable energies’; and fearlessly to ‘adopt the preferential option for the poor in the struggle of indigenous peoples, traditional communities, migrants and young people to shape the character of the Church in the Amazon.’ (#146).

The Final Document produced by the Synod of Bishops for the Amazon Nearly 300 people attended the Amazon Synod of Bishops that met in Rome over three weeks from 6 to 27 October 2019, with 182 being voting members. Fr Antonio Spadaro SJ, reporting for La Civilta Cattolica was impressed by the pastoral realism of the speeches and small-group meetings. Austen Ivereigh commented: ‘The native peoples’ leaders at the synod were key to its pastoral conversion. Their stories of suffering and of the astonishing violence directed against Bruce Duncan CSsR 53

them formed a constant backdrop, as did their expressions of faith in Jesus and in his church.’9 The presence of 33 women as experts and auditors in the Synod was very significant.

The three dozen women taking part as experts and auditors at the synod were tough too: indigenous leaders fighting for land and human rights, religious sisters on the frontline of the fight against human trafficking, as well as women church leaders who act as catechists and animators, in effect running the base communities that are the basic unit of the church in the Amazon. Some 60 percent of Catholic communities in the region are run by women.10

Some very conservative but disparate Catholic groups were strongly opposed to the Synod, but came with different agendas: the disgrun- tled US Cardinal Raymond Burke called the preliminary document a ‘direct attack on the Lordship of Christ’, and wrote in the US jour- nal First Things: ‘This is apostasy’.11 Also opposed to the Synod were traditionalists in Brazil linked to the movement Tradition, Family

9. Austen Ivereigh, ‘Exposing the Spirits: what the Amazon Synod decided & what it revealed’, Commonweal (December 2019): 18. Most of the 185 expected voting members of the Synod were bishops or priests from Amazonia, along with heads of Roman Curia offices, 14 Religious priests and one brother elected by the Union of Superiors General, and nominees of Pope Francis: Cardinal O’Malley (Boston) and the other members of the Council of Cardinals, Bishop Robert McElroy (San Diego) and Bishop Gendron, president of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops. The women’s Union of Superiors General was invited to send 10 observers who could speak but not vote. Six ‘fraternal delegates’ were invited from Protestant and Anglican churches in Latin America, plus 12 special guests, including Ban Ki-moon, former UN secretary-general; Carlos Afonso Nobre, Brazilian climate specialist on the Amazon and a Nobel laureate; and Jeffrey D Sachs from Colombia University. Twenty five experts assisted the Synod (20 priests, two women religious, a layman and two laywomen). Eight other women religious were elected observers, along with two deacons, two religious brothers, 15 laymen, seven priests and 11 laywomen. Cindy Wooden, ‘Vatican releases list of participants for Amazon synod’, Crux (23 September 2019). https://cruxnow. com/vatican/2019/09/vatican-releases-list-of-participants-for-amazon-synod/ 10. Ivereigh, ‘Exposing the Spirits’, 22. 11. ‘A high-noon moment for Pope Francis over the Amazon; The future of the Catholic church’, The Economist, (4 October 2019), https://www.economist.com/ erasmus/2019/10/04/a-high-noon-moment-for-pope-francis-over-the-amazon. Accessed 18 October 2020. 54 Interface Theology

and Property; populist nationalists supporting the policies of Bra- zil’s President Bolsonaro; and conservative North America networks around LifeSite News and the US Catholic cable network, EWTN, that depicted the Synod as heretical or Marxist, or imposing Pope Francis’s ‘liberal agenda’.12 Not surprisingly, there was some serious politics in the Synod itself, particularly from conservatives in the Roman Curia. Ivereigh wrote:

There was disgust, for example, at the way Cardinal Lorenzo Baldisseri, the outgoing synod general secretary, removed Dom Erwin Krȁutler and others from the commission that redacted the synod’s final document, one of many attempts by the Curia to try to exclude members of the Latin-American group linked to REPAM, that Pan-Amazonian church network created in 2013 [sic] that has organized the remarkable three- year preparation of the synod of the region.13

‘Perhaps because of the gutting of the redaction committee, the draft of the final document handed to the synod fathers at the beginning of the final week was a huge shock’, according to Ivereigh. A group of bishops went to the Pope who agreed to a major revision of the final document.

The redaction commission was re-formed, and experts were brought in to help incorporate into a new relatio synodi the 831 modi, or amendments, produced by the twelve small groups. In just two days and one long night, the commission had hammered out an uplifting thirty-three-page document, every paragraph of which passed with a two-thirds majority.14

The bishops voted to accept the Final Document summarising in 17,000 words their discussions and decisions; it was released on 26 October 2019, entitled ‘The Amazon: New Paths for the Church and for an Integral Ecology’.15

12. Ivereigh, ‘Exposing the Spirits’, 23. 13. Ivereigh, ‘Exposing the Spirits’, 22–23. 14. Ivereigh, ‘Exposing the Spirits’, 23. 15. Synod of Bishops Special Assembly for the Pan-Amazonian Region, The Amazon: New Paths for the Church and for an Integral Ecology, Vatican, (26 October 2019), http:// www.vatican.va/roman_curia/synod/documents/rc_synod_doc_20191026_ sinodo-amazzonia_en.html Accessed 20 March 2020. Bruce Duncan CSsR 55

The Final Document said that all participants were acutely aware ‘of the dramatic state of destruction affecting the Amazon. The territory and its inhabitants are disappearing, especially the indigenous peoples. The Amazon rainforest is a “biological heart” for the increasingly threatened earth. It is a frenzied race to the death. Radi- cal changes are urgently needed’ to save the forest. ‘It is scientifically proven that the disappearance of the Amazon biome will have a catastrophic impact on the planet as a whole.’ (#2). The Document outlined the degree of ‘suffering and violence’ in the Amazon, noting the threats to life, appropriation of water and other resources, massive logging, deforestation of 17% of the whole forest, mining and oil projects, the spread of disease, drug trafficking, sexual exploitation, human and organ trafficking, armed gangs and assassination of leaders and defenders of their territories. ‘Behind all this are dominant economic and political interests, with the complic- ity of some government officials . . .’ Above all looms the impending threat of climate change. (#10). The Synod called for a ‘a true integral conversion, to a simple and modest style of life’ (#17), a ‘personal and communal conversion which creates new structures in harmony with the care of creation’, involving a ‘pastoral conversion based on synodality, which recog- nises the interaction of all that is created.’ (#18). It is ‘samaritan in dialogue’, accompanying people, especially indigenous people, the poor and excluded, in a ‘spirituality of listening and proclamation’. (#20, 22). The Amazon bishops wanted deeper dialogue with people of other religions and faiths (#24), and especially ‘a preferential option for indigenous peoples, and this means that diocesan indigenous pastoral organisations must be established and consolidated’, aspiring to ‘an indigenous Church with its own priests and ministers’ (#27). It also called for ‘indigenous urban pastoral ministry’ to help solve problems faced by indigenous people in urban centres. (#37). As well as urging missionary teams to support Amazon communities, ‘lay people and pastors together need to discern paths for public advocacy that aim at social transformation.’ (#40). The Church commits itself to be an ally of the Amazonian peoples in denouncing attacks on the life of the indigenous communities, the projects that affect the environment . . . as well as the economic model of predatory and ecocidal development.’ (#46). ‘The greed for land is at the root of 56 Interface Theology

the conflicts that lead to ethnocide, as well as the criminalisation of social movements and the murder of their leaders.’ (#45). While respecting the culture of indigenous peoples, the Synod urged Catholics to accompany them in ‘their struggles for human rights’, since the mission of announcing the Good News required them ‘to denounce situations of sin and structures of death, violence and injustice, promoting inter-cultural, inter-religious and ecumeni- cal dialogue’. (#48). The Synod recognised that evangelisation had often been accom- panied in the past by colonisation and oppression, and insisted that the Church must not be involved in ‘a process of destruction’ or pros- elytism, but strengthen the values of indigenous cultures, and learn from their ‘myths, narratives, rites, songs, dance and spiritual expressions.’ (#54–56). The Synod recommended giving ‘an authentically catholic response to the request of the Amazonian communities to adapt the liturgy by valuing the original worldview, traditions, symbols and rites that include transcendent, community and ecological dimensions.’ (#116). It reaffirmed the Church’s work for preventive health care while learning from ancestral knowledge of traditional medi- cine, as well as improving education, especially among girls, so as to promote social transformation and ‘a healthy critical sense.’ (#59). It favoured bilingual education, involving universities as well, and dis- tance learning. (#63–64).

Threats to the Amazon Drawing from Laudato si’, care for the planet was a central focus during the Synod. ‘God has given us the earth as a gift and as a task, to care for it and to answer for it’, but ‘ecology and social justice are intrinsically united (cf LS 137).’ A ‘new paradigm of justice emerges’; integral ecology connects care for nature with ‘justice for the most impoverished and disadvantaged on earth, who are God’s preferred choice in revealed history.’ (#66). The Synod insisted that it was ‘urgent’ to resist the destruction in the Amazon caused by ‘predatory extractivism that responds to the logic of greed, typical of the dominant technocratic paradigm (cf. LS 101)’. Integral ecology ‘is the only possible path, because there is no other viable route for saving the region. The shedding of inno- cent blood and the criminalization of the defenders of the Amazon Bruce Duncan CSsR 57

accompany the depredation of the territory.’ (#67). The Synod called on the international community to help promote ‘a model of just and solidary development’, involving direct participation of local communities and native peoples in all phases. (#68).

For Christians, interest and concern for the promotion and respect of human rights, both individual and collective, is not optional’, but is ‘above all a requirement of faith. For this reason: (a) we denounce the violation of human rights and extractive destruction; (b) we embrace and support campaigns of divestment from extractive companies responsible for the socio-ecological damage of the Amazon, starting with our own Church institutions and also in alliance with other churches; (c) we call for a radical energy transition and the search for alternatives. (#70).

The Synod urged a search for new sustainable ‘economic models’ instead of the technocratic paradigm that ‘tends to dominate economic and political life’ (LS 109).’ Moreover, large-scale mining, particularly illegal mining, concentrates ‘economic and political power in the hands of a few’, often with the support of local or foreign governments. (#72). The Final Document urged abandoning ‘the current model’ destroying the forest, and instead supporting a sustainable economy, including ‘co-operative initiatives in bio-production, forest reserves and sustainable consumption.’ (#73). It supported the people of the Amazon being ‘agents of their own destiny, of their own mission’, with the Church as an ally. (#74). The Church must then form its pastoral agents to ‘show environmental care’. (#75). It proposed creating ‘special ministries for the care of our common home and the promotion of integral ecology at the parish level’ and elsewhere, and for promoting awareness and advocacy from Laudato si’. (#82). It also called for recycling, reducing use of fossil fuels and plastics, changing eating habits to reduce consumption of meat and seafood, and adopting a more modest lifestyle. (#84). It conceded that the Church has to overcome tendencies to ‘colo- nising models that have caused harm in the past.’ It must also ‘be aware of the power of neo-colonialism which is present in our daily decisions and the prominent model of development’, as in increasing use of monocrop agriculture, forms of transportation and invasive consumerism. (#81). 58 Interface Theology

The Synod urged the creation of ‘a pastoral socio-environmental office’ as well as an Amazon office of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development. (#85). The practice of synodality permeated the Final Document, which called for a ‘conversion to the synodal experience. It needs to strengthen a culture of dialogue, reciprocal listening, spiritual discernment, consensus and communion’ to develop ‘ways of joint decision– making and to respond to pastoral challenges’. It also needs to foster co-responsibility and service in the Church, particularly to overcome clericalism and arbitrary impositions. Synodality is a constitutive dimension of the Church. We cannot be Church without recognizing a real practice of the sensus fidei of all the People of God.’ (#88).

The Role of Lay Men and Women in the Amazon Church The Synod urged ‘special attention to the effective participation of the laity in discernment and decision making, favouring the participation of women.’ (#92). The Amazon Church urgently needs to ‘confer ministries for men and women in an equitable manner,’ in line with the Second Vatican Council in Gaudium et Spes (no. 39), emphasis- ing the mission of the laity: ‘“the expectation of a new earth must not weaken but rather stimulate our concern for cultivating this one.”’ (#95). The laity are ‘privileged actors’ in this struggle to care for our common home (#93). The Synod affirmed that ‘it is necessary to rethink the way in which local churches are organized’ (#112). It called for ‘assemblies and pastoral councils in all Church areas’, for ‘responsibility of all the baptized’, and to ‘broaden opportunities for the participation of the laity whether in consultation or decision-making . . .’ (#94). After quoting Pope Francis’sEvangelii Gaudium urging the creation of ‘broader opportunities for a more incisive female presence in the Church’ (#99), the Synod continued:

The voice of women should therefore be heard, they should be consulted and participate in decision-making and in this way, contribute with their sensitivity to Church synodality . . . Their leadership must be more fully assumed in the heart of the Church, recognized and promoted by strengthening their participation in the pastoral councils of parishes and dioceses, and also in positions of governance. (#101) Bruce Duncan CSsR 59

‘We recognize the ministry that Jesus reserved for women . . .’ The Synod asked that they be admitted to ministries of deacon, lector and acolyte, among others to be developed, as well as creating an ‘insti- tuted ministry of “women community leadership”’ [sic]. (#102). It also called for a broader understanding of the diaconate. ‘Today’s diaconate should also promote integral ecology, human development, social pastoral work, and service to those in situations of vulnerabil- ity and poverty; modelled on Christ the Servant and becoming a mer- ciful, samaritan, solidary and diaconal Church.’ (#103). Hence formation for those to be ordained ‘should be a communal schooling that is fraternal, experiential . . . in contact with the real lives of people; in harmony with the local culture and religiosity; and close to the poor.’ (#107). The Synod voted to ordain mature married men (#111) by 128 votes in favour, but with a significant minority of 41 against. By a stronger vote of 137 in favour and 30 against, the Synod recommended studying the possibility of ordaining women as deacons. Ivereigh wrote that ‘almost everyone failed to notice that the document offers something more radical: a call for “the institution of ministry for female leadership of the community” in recognition of “the ministry that Jesus reserved for women”. In effect bishops would be ‘conferring on lay women the presidency of local Catholic communities’.16 Near the end of the Synod the Pope said, to applause, that ‘he would re-open the women’s diaconate commission, with new members and with more weight, under the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith’.17

Pope Francis’s Querida Amazonia (Beloved Amazonia). Pope Francis completed his reflections on the Synod in his 15,000- word Apostolic Exhortation, Querida Amazonia18 by 27 December

16. Ivereigh, ‘Exposing the Spirits’, 22. 17. Ivereigh, ‘Exposing the Spirits’, 22. 18. Pope Francis, Querida Amazonia: Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation, Vatican, 2 February 2020, http://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/apost_ exhortations/documents/papa-francesco_esortazione-ap_20200202_querida- amazonia.html. Accessed 20 February 2020. 60 Interface Theology

2019, just two months after the end of the Synod.19 Francis offered a synthesis to help guide us to a ‘creative and fruitful reception of the entire synodal process.’ (#2). He did not quote at all from the Synod’s Final Document but instead officially presented it and, as if baptising it, encouraged ‘everyone to read it in full’ (#3). It was addressed to ‘the People of God and all Persons of Good Will’. He said he had four dreams for the Amazon, a social one to assure the rights and future for the original peoples; a cultural one, which preserves and celebrates its distinctive history, values and cultures; an ecological one, which defends the vital ecology of the Ama- zon forests, for the region itself and for the planet; and an ecclesial dream, where the Christian communities can celebrate with new Amazonian features the presence of Christ calling them to service and solidarity with the poor (#7). Francis does not see the Amazon Synod as relevant only to the Amazon rainforest and its peoples. He sees the Synod as exemplifying how the whole world needs to address the great challenges confronting us (#5), bringing expert and scientific opinion into lively con- versation with regional peoples about how to redevelop social and economic systems so they work more equitably and sustainably for future generations. Only if we safeguard our environment can we hope to address more fairly our ancient enemies of hunger, poverty and gross inequality. The Amazon is ‘facing an ecological disaster’ and is a critical instance of the great struggle being played out throughout the world between the power of money, particularly in the shape of neoliberal patterns of globalisation, and multitudes of people trying to support their families and communities in an unstable environment. ‘The imbalance of power is enormous; the weak have no means of defending themselves, while the winners take it all . . .’ (#13). The struggle is threatening the very life support systems of the planet, as greenhouse gases are heating land and ocean, threatening agriculture and food supplies. All these challenges are concentrated in the current plundering of the Amazon which has such a major role in global weather patterns.

19. Gerard O’Connell, ‘What’s in Pope Francis’ apostolic exhortation on the Amazon synod?’ America magazine, (12 February 2020), https://www.americamagazine. org/faith/2020/02/12/whats-pope-francis-apostolic-exhortation-amazon- synod. Accessed 20 February 2020. Bruce Duncan CSsR 61

Ordination of Married Men and Women as Deacons? To the surprise of many of the western media, Francis did not accede to requests from the Synod to ordain suitable married men as priests or women as deacons (#100), even though about three quarters of the bishops voted for these changes. According to Ivereigh, Francis was ‘deeply dismayed at the politicising by curial cardinals Marc Ouellet and Robert Sarah who attempted to mobilise public opinion against the synod’s discernment’ by publishing books claiming that the disci- pline of clerical celibacy could not be changed.20 Francis has a dialectical approach towards the resolution of con- flicting views after a process of discernment, as he articulated in Evan- gelii Gaudium (#222ff); when one meets significant disagreement, one must wait prayerfully to resolve the issue on a higher plane, finding a better way forward. Perhaps the Holy Spirit may be urging a different outcome, ‘perhaps something not yet even imagined’. (#104). Francis is aiming for a deeper inculturation of the Church in the Amazon, a church with an Amazonian face, not simply expanding an institu- tional presence.21 Instead he urged the bishops to invent new leadership roles and ministries, particularly for women. (#102–103).22 As Ivereigh commented, the Pope’s Exhortation ‘complements [italics in original] the synod report with what has resonated in his discernment’. In short, ‘what is not replaced is not refused’.

Nothing in that report, endorsed by two-thirds of the synod, is rejected; indeed, everything in it is affirmed, endorsed, and given papal recognition. Contrary to almost every news story or reaction to Querida Amazonia, the pope did not rule against the possibility of ordaining married men, or of women deacons, or of anything else the synod agreed to propose.

20. Austen Ivereigh, ‘New Wine, New Wineskins’, How to read Francis’s apostolic exhortation on the Amazon’, Commonweal (April 2020): 11. 21. Ivereigh, ‘New Wine, New Wineskins,’ 11–12. 22. Some women theologians were critical of Francis’s views about the roles of women as being too conditioned by earlier western culture with its romantic view of maternal femininity. According to Tina Beattie, ‘For all its virtues, Francis’s vision is impoverished by its lack of any engagement with the work of ecofeminists.’ ‘A “Frozen” Idea of the Feminine’, in The Tablet (22 February 2020): 6. 62 Interface Theology

Instead he urged Catholics to ‘strive to apply’ the report in Amazonia. According to Cardinal Claudio Hummes, relator (chair) of the Ama- zon Synod and who also heads REPAM, the question of ordaining married men was now up to the bishops of the region in dialogue with the Pope and the Vatican. Most observers think that a new Ama- zonian rite will be formed, and viri probati, mature men, will then be ordained to celebrate Eucharist but in much more participatory arrangements with lay men and women performing new roles.23 Francis is encouraging a process of declericalisation, where authority and decision-making are not concentrated in the hands of a clerical elite, but instead involve much more participation and co- responsibility with lay men and women. ‘This requires the Church to be open to the Spirit’s boldness, to trust in, and concretely to permit, the growth of a specific ecclesial culture that is distinctively lay’, he wrote in Querida Amazonia. (#94).

Learning to Walk Together: ‘Synodality’ The Amazon Synod is a demonstration of the synodal process and an example for the wider Catholic world. It was remarkably successful in focusing on the plight of struggling and indigenous peoples, while hearing their voices in defence of their cultures and environment. The Synod clearly recognised that the overarching challenges in the Amazon come from climate change and inequality, which fig- ure so prominently in Laudato si’. Francis has constantly striven to encourage processes of listening, encounter, dialogue and conver- sation across cultural, religious and national boundaries, as dem- onstrated in his collaboration with other religious traditions and international organisations while preparing Laudato si’ and since. One specific instance of this encouragement is his address to the UN General Assembly in September 2015, immediately before delegates voted to accept the UN Sustainable Development Goals to coordinate international cooperation to improve human prospects everywhere.24 Francis insists that the Amazon faces an ‘ecological disaster’, and also a social one; we need to hear both ‘the cry of the earth and the

23. Ivereigh, ‘New Wine, New Wineskins’, 10–11. 24. See Bruce Duncan, ‘The Economics behind the Social Thought of Pope Francis’, in Australasian Catholic Record (April 2017): 148–166. Bruce Duncan CSsR 63

cry of the poor.’ (#8) He deplores the ‘worst forms of enslavement, subjection and poverty’, along with the great inequality, not only in the forests of the Amazon but the urban areas as well. (#10) Francis argues that the ‘businesses, national and international, which harm the Amazon and fail to respect the rights of the original peoples . . . should be called for what they are: injustice and crime.’ ‘“We cannot allow globalization to become a new version of colonialism”.’ (#14). He stresses that we must not be indifferent to ‘current forms of exploitation and killing.’ (#15) ‘Nor has colonization ended; in many places, it has been changed, disguised and concealed.’ He quoted the bishops of the Brazilian Amazon that ‘“it was always a minority that profited from the poverty of the majority and from the unscrupulous plundering of the region’s natural riches.”’ (#16). He repeated John Paul II’s 1998 World Day of Peace Statement: ‘The challenge, in short, is to ensure a globalization in solidarity, a globalization without marginalization.’ (#17). Instead Francis sees widespread exploitation: ‘Indeed, in addition to the economic interests of local business persons and politicians, there also exist “huge global economic interests”’ (#50). ‘The powerful are never satisfied with the profits they make, and the resources of economic power greatly increase as a result of scientific and technological advances.’ Quoting from the Aparecida conference, he wrote that the Amazon needs legal frameworks to protect ecosystems, ‘otherwise the new power structures based on the techno-economic paradigm may overwhelm not only our politics, but also freedom and justice.’ (#52). Calling everyone not to close their eyes to such injustice, Francis quoted Laudato si’ (#59): ‘“Such evasiveness serves as a license to car- rying on with our present lifestyles and models of production and consumption . . . trying not to see them, trying not to acknowledge them, delaying the important decisions and pretending that nothing will happen.”’ Again quoting Laudato si’ (#204), Francis summarised: ‘“Our concern cannot be limited to the threat of extreme weather events, but must also extend to the catastrophic consequences of social unrest. Obsession with a consumerist lifestyle, above all when few people are capable of maintaining it, can only lead to violence and mutual destruction.”’ (#59). 64 Interface Theology

The ultimate framework for Francis is of course a religious one, which rejoices in a contemplative sense of the presence of Mystery in nature itself. He writes that ‘we believers encounter in the Amazon region a theological locus’, a space where God is revealed. (#57). God ‘is present in a glorious and mysterious way in the rivers, the trees, the fish and the wind, as the Lord who reigns in creation without ever losing his transfigured wounds, while in the Eucharist he takes up the elements of this world and confers on all things the meaning of the paschal gift.’ (#74). ‘For Christian communities, this entails a clear commitment to the justice of God’s kingdom through work for the advancement of those who have been “discarded”. It follows that a suitable training of pastoral workers in the Church’s social teaching is most important.’ (#75). Aware that many people in the Amazon are looking elsewhere in their spiritual search, Francis insists that ‘the inculturation of the Gospel in Amazonia must better integrate the social and the spiritual, so that the poor do not have to look outside the Church for a spirituality that responds to their deepest yearnings. This does not mean an alienating and individualistic religiosity that would silence social demands for a more dignified life, but neither does it mean ignoring the transcendent and spiritual dimensions . . .’ (#76). Francis sees social commitment deeply integrated in a mature faith: ‘A holiness born of encounter and engagement, contemplation and service, receptive solitude and life in community, cheerful sobri- ety and the struggle for justice.’ (#77).

Conclusion The Amazon Synod presents an enormous challenge to the entire Catholic Church. Not only does it demand much closer engagement with the great issues of our day as spelt out in Laudato si’ and other documents of Pope Francis. It requires a major shake-up in the very structures of the Church, including how roles of service and ministry are institutionalised. Pope Francis is calling for a Church which is flexible in how it carries the Good News in vastly different circumstances across the world, learning how to inculturate itself in various countries so that people hear the Gospel in terms of their own histo- ries, languages and values. Bruce Duncan CSsR 65

Particularly important is Pope Francis’s stress on synodality, of listening prayerfully to the movement of the Holy Spirit in the people and world around us, fostering fraternity between races and nation- alities, and genuine equality between men and women, encouraging women to take up new roles in governance and leadership. As the Synod emphasised, the mission of the Church is to serve in solidarity with all who are struggling, and to inspire everyone to collaborate in building a better world, foreshadowing the Reign of God in God’s own time. Feeding the hungry today involves tackling the urgent tasks of global social transformation so no one is hungry or in acute need. Yet climate change is bearing down on us, threatening us with catastrophic consequences which are unfolding dramatically in the Amazon and beyond. The Synod clearly understood that rolling back this environmental disaster means confronting powerful social and political forces that exploit economic systems, exacerbate inequality and despoil the natural resources of the planet in search of further wealth. It means standing with the guardians of the forests especially the Indigenous peoples who value highly the treasures of nature, and supporting them in their struggle to retain their cultures and rights. In countries like Australia, it means pursuing processes of recon- ciliation with our Indigenous peoples, righting historic and current wrongs and opening up paths to education, health care, housing, employment and life opportunities on a par with non-Indigenous people. For the churches it means developing ceremonies that Indige- nous peoples can embrace, with culturally appropriate rituals including song and dance led and conducted by their own Indigenous ministers. Pope Francis is calling the whole Church to an ‘integral ecology’. This paradigm integrates all dimensions of human and planetary wellbeing, not just the ecological and economic, but the social, cultural and spiritual as well. Everything is indeed connected, and God has entrusted this beautiful creation and all its creatures into our care. This is our sacred task in which we all have a personal share and responsibility.