Pan-Amazon Region Archives

Mixed reactions to Querida Amazonia from Brazilian bishops

Feb 15, 2020

The post-synodal apostolic exhortation published by Pope Francis on Feb. 12 generated mixed reactions from the Brazilian episcopate.

By Eduardo Campos Lima

Amazon’s Catholics mull Church future after pope’s letter

Feb 14, 2020

Catholic priests, deacons and bishops across the Amazon voiced surprise, resignation and reluctant acceptance of Pope Francis’s refusal to allow married men to be ordained priests, lamenting that their faithful will continue to be deprived of Mass and subject to competing evangelical churches that have made impressive inroads in the region.

By Manuel Rueda, Diane Jeantet, Franklin Briceno and Gonzalo Solano

Amazon governors, meeting after synod, support ‘green economy’

Oct 29, 2019

Governors from eight Amazonian states in Brazil and Peru meeting at the Vatican agreed that the Amazon is threatened and called for a “green economy” that would allow people to generate income without destroying the forest.

By Barbara Fraser

Path to women deacons opened by Pope Benedict, Brazilian bishop says

Oct 25, 2019

A change to the Code of Canon Law made by Pope Benedict XVI in 2009 provides a canonical path to allow the ordination of women deacons, a Brazilian bishop said.

By Junno Arocho Esteves

Proposed Amazonian rite centered on Christ, indigenous professor says

Oct 24, 2019

Addressing concerns about a proposed Amazonian rite in the Catholic Church, an indigenous participant at the Synod of Bishops for the Amazon called on Catholics to soften their hearts and understand the needs of Catholics in the region.

By Junno Arocho Esteves

‘Loving neighbor as yourself implies caring for earth,’ theologian says

Oct 22, 2019

The Synod of Bishops for the Amazon is calling Catholics to an ecological conversion in their personal lives and in the church throughout the world, a theologian participating in the synod said.

By Barbara Fraser