Eight months after the Amazon synod, one of its biggest projects has been created. It's called the Ecclesial Conference of the Amazon Region. The body will be in charge of implementing and promoting the proposals presented to the pope after the October assembly.
MAURICIO LÓPEZ
Secretary General, REPAM
“It's like a complement to help develop initiatives. For instance, the Amazon University has to be in a building with specific dimensions. The topic of the Amazonian ritual, which is both complex and has a long-term perspective, requires a relationship with Vatican departments, and thus, a special structure.”
Another task of the Ecclesial Conference of the Amazon Region will be to study new ministries to push evangelization in the Amazon region.
The conference not only includes bishops and priests, but laypeople and missionaries who live in the Amazon.
MAURICIO LÓPEZ
Secretary General, REPAM
“There are three representatives of indigenous peoples, not just for the assembly, but on the executive committee. This is completely new. The expression of this lay presence isn't just in the assembly, but also in the structure that will carry out the entire mission.”
The Ecclesial Conference of the Amazon Region emerged in the middle of the pandemic, which is why its inauguration was celebrated virtually.
Mauricio López, secretary general of REPAM, says the Church hasn't let its guard down during these difficult times, in which the region's minorities are most threatened.
MAURICIO LÓPEZ
Secretary General, REPAM
“We're talking about practically 450,000 contagion cases in a territory whose population of 33 million inhabitants is very high, and where we have almost over 15,000 dead. This is also a very high percentage. The infrastructure's fragility now shows a much more serious situation.”
He also highlights that the Ecclesial Conference of the Amazon Region will not replace the work that REPAM, CELAM and CLAR have done for years. He says synodality is one of the most important aspects of the evangelizing mission of the Amazon.
Daniel Díaz Vizzi
Translation: CT
