The next Amazon Synod, scheduled for October, already has a soundtrack. A song titled 'Ancestral Pan-Amazon,' composed by the Brazilian singer Antonio Cardoso.
It is inspired by the farming methods used by communities along the Amazon rivers. It is precisely these families and Christian communities the Synod hopes to reach.
ANTONIO CARDOSO
Musician
'These months we have been filled with moments of great joy. We have tried to listen to the desires of the community, then prepare the document that will serve as a reference point for the bishops who will meet in Rome in October. They will define what are the new directions for evangelization, specifically in the Amazon.”
The synod will take place from October 6 to 27 in Rome. Among the topics they will discuss are global indifference to the ecological decline of the Amazon and the pastoral care of the people who live there.
ANTONIO CARDOSO
Musician
'Deforestation is the main problem in the Amazon that ought to be addressed. The Amazon is not designed for large-scale industrial farming. However, the Amazon can be used for subsistence agriculture, which is what these river based peoples demonstrate to us, as guardians of this land.”
Pope Francis convened this Special Assembly in 2017, keeping in mind this population that seems to have been forgotten by the world.
POPE FRANCIS
'The main objective of this summit is to find new ways for the evangelization of this portion of the People of God, especially for the indigenous people. [They are] often forgotten and live without a expectation of a peaceful future, due to the crisis of the Amazon forest, the lungs of fundamental importance to our planet.”
The countries that span the Amazon are already waiting for the conclusions from the Synod. They expect new approaches to environmental stewardship and the evangelization of a people, that is so important for the world and yet at the same time, so forgotten.
