Three months after the close of the Synod of Bishops, Pope Francis returns to the Amazon emergency in the document Querida Amazonia, articulating his “ecological dream”.
Pope Francis dreams of an Amazon "that fights for the rights of the poorest, of indigenous peoples, of the last, where their voice is heard and their dignity is promoted". That defends "the cultural richness that distinguishes it". And above all "that jealously guards the irresistible natural beauty that adorns it, the overflowing life that fills its rivers and its forests".
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Three months have passed since the close of the pan-Amazonian Synod convened in Rome by the Vatican, and now the Pontiff has felt the need to pick up its thread and to express, through an official document – the post-synodal apostolic exhortation Querida Amazonia – his dreams and hopes for the green lung of the world, in which "social, cultural and natural ecology merge into one".
Great attention is once again paid to the environmental question, just as it was in the themes addressed by the Synod, yet never divorced from context, in keeping with that "integral ecology" professed by the Pope since the encyclical Laudato Sì. "In a cultural reality such as the Amazon, where such a close relationship exists between human beings and nature, everyday life is always cosmic," Francis explains. "Freeing others from their forms of enslavement certainly includes caring for the environment and protecting it."
According to the Pontiff, if the care of people and the care of ecosystems are inseparable, this becomes especially significant where "the forest is not a resource to be exploited, it is a being, or various beings, with which to relate". For this reason, a great role — one that Christianity too must absolutely recognise — is entrusted to the wisdom of the original peoples of the Amazon, "which inspires care and respect for creation, with a clear awareness of its limits, forbidding its abuse". And indigenous peoples, "when they remain on their territories, are those who best care for them", provided they are not taken in by the siren songs and self-interested offers of power groups.
The warning about the danger posed by economic and industrial powers pushing for the exploitation and deforestation of the Amazon recurs frequently in Pope Francis's reflections, just as it did in the Synod's final document: "Planetary balance also depends on the health of the Amazon," the Pope explains, "which, together with the Congo biome and that of Borneo, is striking for the diversity of its forests, on which the rainfall cycles, the climate balance, and a great variety of living beings also depend. It functions as a great filter for carbon dioxide, helping to avoid the overheating of the earth." Not to mention that "its fish, fruits, and other superabundant gifts enrich human nutrition".
Hence the indictment: today "the aspect of conquest and exploitation of resources has come to threaten the very hospitality of the environment. The environment as a "resource" risks threatening the environment as a "home". The interests of a few powerful companies should not be placed above the good of the Amazon and of all humanity. It is not enough to pay attention to the conservation of species at risk of extinction. This is a factor that is, among other things, often ignored in the environmental impact assessments of projects by extractive and energy industries and the timber industry that destroy and pollute. Furthermore, water, abundant in the Amazon, represents an essential good for human survival; yet sources of pollution are constantly growing."
The indictment, however, is directed not only at local entrepreneurs and politicians with their economic interests, but also at those — judged to be "enormous" — of national governments and multinational companies. Integral ecology, in this sense, must become truly global: "The solution, then, does not lie in an 'internationalisation' of the Amazon," says Pope Francis, "but in making national governments face up to their responsibilities".
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For this same reason, it is explained in Querida Amazonia, the commitment of international bodies and civil society organisations that raise awareness among populations and cooperate in a critical manner, even using legitimate systems of pressure, is praiseworthy, so that "every government fulfils its duty to preserve the environment and the natural resources of its own country, without yielding to ambiguous local or international interests". We should all insist on the urgency of "creating a regulatory framework that includes inviolable limits and ensures the protection of ecosystems, before the new forms of power derived from the techno-economic paradigm end up destroying not only politics but also freedom and justice".
But Bergoglio's message seems above all to be this: an integral ecology must always include an educational dimension, one that encourages the development of new habits in individuals and human communities. "Unfortunately, many inhabitants of the Amazon have taken on the typical customs of large cities, where consumerism and the culture of waste are already deeply rooted. There will be no healthy and sustainable ecology capable of changing anything unless people change, unless they are encouraged to adopt a different lifestyle — less greedy, more serene, more respectful, less anxious, more fraternal."
It is precisely in this, in all likelihood, that the Church sees the possibility of making its own contribution to the care and growth of the Amazon. And it is precisely for this reason that the Synod for the Pan-Amazonian region, held from 6 to 27 October last, brought together in Rome 185 cardinals and bishops from South America, along with numerous experts. An initiative whose CO2 emissions impact was entirely offset through a reforestation project in the Amazonian forest of Matavén in Colombia, developed in collaboration with LifeGate.
