Bishops of Latin America: If
the Amazon suffers, the world suffers
 |
| A Rio Branco fireman fights the fire in Brazil's Amazon (ANSA) |
The Bishops of Latin America and the Caribbean (CELAM)
express their deep concern for destructive fires burning the world’s forests.
By Francesca Merlo
The “seriousness” of the fires currently raging in Alaska,
Siberia, Greenland, the Canary Islands, and “in particular, the Amazon” is not
only local, say the Bishops of Latin America and the Caribbean. It is “of
planetary proportions”.
The Amazon, the world's largest rainforest, has been burning
for over two weeks.
Pope Francis, who has made the fight for the rights of
indigenous peoples a focal point of his pontificate, has called for an October
Synod of Bishops for the Pan-Amazonian region.
From hope to sorrow
In a statement released
on August 22, the Bishops write that the “tremendous natural tragedy”
destroying the Amazon has turned what was previously a hopeful upcoming Synod,
into one of “deep sorrow”.
“To our brother indigenous people living in that beloved
rainforest, we express our closeness,” say the Bishops, adding that they join
them in crying out to the world for “solidarity and prompt attention” to this
devastating tragedy.
So rich, so vital
Referring to a Preparatory
Document for the upcoming Synod, the Bishops write that the Amazon
rainforest, so “rich” in biodiversity, is “of vital importance to the planet”.
The Church states that an area so “multi-ethnic,
multi-cultural and multi-religious…demands structural and personal changes of
all human beings”.
This “deep crisis”, reads the Synod Document, was “triggered
by a prolonged human intervention, where a ‘culture of waste’ predominates”.
Lungs of the world
Finally, the Bishops urge the governments of Amazon
countries, the United Nations and the international community to help “save the
lungs of the world”.
In quoting Pope Francis, they ask that all those who occupy
positions of responsibility be “custodians of creation, of God’s design
inscribed in nature, guardians of the other, of the environment” and to “not
allow the signs of destruction and death accompany the path of this in our
world”. Because, say the Bishops, “if the Amazon suffers, the world suffers”.
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