On the concluding day of the Synod the community of the General House in Rome, which prayed together following the Synod’s close, was blessed with the presence of two synod fathers: Bishop Vital Chitolina, the bishop of Diamantino and Bishop Vilson Basso, the bishop of Imperatriz, Brazil, who gave testimony and spoke about the Amazon Synod. Both are involved in the rich and complex realities of the Amazon area. But they are not the only ones. Dehonians, in fact, our SCJ brothers (about 40) are present in nine dioceses and 19 parishes of within the area defined as the Amazon.
In the 21 days of listening and shared reflection, the attention of the 185 synod fathers turned to pastoral issues and the problem of ecology. In this sense, Pope Francis asked everyone for a synodal conversion, that is, that they all look together in the same direction, toward one pastoral, cultural, ecological and social conversion. According to them, such conversion, together with the conclusions of the synod, is indi
spensable because the socio-economic environmental crisis affects not only the people of the Amazon but the whole world.
Our confreres also reported on the Pope’s appeal for the formation of priests and religious to the missionary dimension, including an experience of mission, even in the Amazon. Religious, in particular, were asked not to wait for the faithful to come, but to move toward the good news.
