Pope defends Amazon’s cultural richness
February 18, 2020 · By Antonio Spadaro, Rome for www.ucanews.com
ope Francis greets members of an Amazon rainforest ethnic group at a Mass at St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican for the opening of the Amazon synod on Oct. 6, 2019. (Photo: Tiziana Fabi/AFP)
Splendor, drama, mystery: with these three words Pope Francis offers to the people of God and all persons of goodwill his post-synodal apostolic exhortation Querida Amazonia (Beloved Amazon) on the special synod for the Amazon, which took place in Rome last October.
With this synod, held at the heart of catholicity in Rome, the Church set out in search of prophecy, shifting its center of gravity from the Euro-Atlantic area and looking to a land full of gigantic political, economic and ecological contradictions.
Francis is seeking solutions that consider the rights of the original peoples and that defend the cultural richness and natural beauty of the earth. And he seeks to support Christian communities with suitable pastoral solutions.
