Life in the Amazon Has Never Been as Endangered as Today, Says Brazilian Cardinal

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – In a speech to the Synod Bishops, the Cardinal emphasized that the forest is at risk “due to environmental destruction and exploitation, the systematic violation of the basic human rights of the Amazonian population, in particular, the violation of indigenous peoples’ rights, such as the right to land, to self-determination, to the demarcation of territories and to prior consultation and consent”.

Hummes mentioned the Amazon 29 times during his speech. He recalled that Pope Francis constantly asks for a Church that meets urgent issues.

“From the beginning of his papal ministry, Francis stressed the need for the Church to move forward. It cannot sit at home, taking care of itself, surrounded by protective walls, much less looking back with a certain nostalgia for past times. It needs to open its doors, break down the walls that surround it and build bridges, go out and set out on the road to history, in the current times of change, journeying ever closer to everyone, particularly to those who live on the fringes of humankind”.

The Church “is on its way”, underlined Hummes. “Why go out? To rekindle lights and warm hearts that help people, communities, countries and global humankind to find the meaning of life and history. These lights are above all the proclamation of the person of Jesus Christ, who died and rose again and his kingdom, as well as the practice of mercy, charity and solidarity particularly towards the poor, the afflicted, the forgotten and discarded of today’s world, the migrants and the indigenous people”.

The Cardinal emphasized the mission of the Church in the Amazon.

“Not a Church closed in on itself, but rather one which is part of the territory’s history and reality – in this case, Amazonia – attentive to the cries for help and to the desires of the population and of the ‘common house’, open to dialogue, especially inter-religious and intercultural dialogue, welcoming and willing to share a synodal journey with the other churches, religions, science, governments, institutions, peoples, communities and people, respecting our differences, in order to defend and promote the life of the populations of the area, in particular the original peoples and biodiversity of the territory of the Amazon Region”, he said.

Hummes also stressed that the Synod takes place in the midst of a time when the world is facing a challenging period of global warming.

“The Synod is taking place during a serious and urgent climate and ecological crisis that is affecting our entire planet. Global warming due to greenhouse effect has generated an unprecedented, serious and urgent climate crisis, as shown by (encyclical) ‘Laudato Si’ and the COP-21 in Paris, in which virtually all the world’s countries have signed the Climate Agreement, which until now has been insufficiently implemented despite the urgency”, he said.

“At the same time, devastation, plundering and galloping degradation of the earth’s resources is taking place on the planet, promoted by a globalized, predatory and devastating technocratic paradigm, denounced by Laudato Si. The Earth can no longer withstand this.”

Source: Estadão