RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – At the closing of the meeting of bishops on the Amazon this Saturday, October 26th, Pope Francis declared that he intends to create an organ within the Vatican dedicated exclusively to care of the region.
The department should be within the Department for Integral Human Development Service, commanded by Cardinal Peter Turkson of Ghana.
Francisco said that the Amazon region is very important. “Ecological awareness is moving forward and today it is denouncing a path of forced exploitation and corruption. Amazonia is one of the most important points of this. A symbol, I would say,” he said.
In the Pope’s evaluation, the greatest importance of the Synod of Bishops was the diagnosis of cultural, ecological, social and pastoral issues in Amazonia. He stressed that environmental problems must be analyzed within their social contexts, and that “not only is creation exploited savagely, but also people.”
Pope Francis believes that ecology and social issues must go together. “In Amazonia there are all kinds of injustice, destruction of people, exploitation of people, at all levels and destruction of cultural identity,” he lamented.
The Catholic authority also demanded that the Church be more in tune with youth. According to Francis, to combat environmental issues, the Church must look to the example of young people, such as the Swedish activist Greta Thunberg, cited by the Pope himself, who is working to combat the current climate crisis.
“At the youth demonstration, like Greta and others, they carry a sign saying ‘the future is ours’. That’s the awareness of the ecological demand,” he said.