Among the outcomes of the Synod for the Pan-Amazonian region is the Church's commitment to an ecological conversion that places full involvement of indigenous peoples and an end to exploitation and deforestation at its centre. And the definition of “ecological sin” makes its entrance.
In its evangelisation project for Amazonia, the Church wishes not only to listen but also to learn from indigenous peoples about respect for and safeguarding of the rainforest, which is threatened by deforestation, fires, climate change and extractive activities; and it will be at the forefront with awareness-raising projects aimed at sustainable development, both for nature and for those who have always lived within it. This is the briefest summary of the work carried out over almost the entire month of October by the Synod of Bishops for the Pan-Amazonian region, dedicated precisely to the search for new paths for the Church and for an integral ecology.
A synod called for by Pope Francis himself, following on from the ecological content of his encyclical Laudato si', and which according to the Pontiff "has given us an opportunity to hear the voice of the poor and to reflect on the precariousness of their lives, threatened by predatory development models. Without doubt we have shown that it is possible to look at reality in a different way."
The final document, drafted unanimously by 181 bishops from all 9 Amazonian countries, revolves around the keyword conversion, declined in five different meanings: some more strictly religious in nature, such as pastoral, synodal and integral conversion, another cultural, and finally, ecological conversion.
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"Without conversion, there are no new paths. With Amazonia burning, many have realised that things must change; we have managed to understand the problem, to recognise that there is a need not only for a change but for a true conversion, which is something even more personal," explained Cardinal Michael Czerny, Under-Secretary of the Migrants and Refugees Section of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development of Vatican City, at the synod's final press conference. "There are practical and reasonable solutions available: the problem is that they entail a conversion, that the trees remain there and that the water keeps flowing."
The bishops acknowledge that "our planet is a gift from God, but we also know that we are living the urgency of acting against an unprecedented socio-environmental crisis. We recognise the wounds caused by human beings in our territory; we want to learn from our brothers and sisters of the indigenous peoples, in a dialogue of knowledge, the challenge of giving new responses to the search for equitable and solidarity-based models of development. We want to care for our 'common home' in Amazonia."
The chapter dedicated to this ecological conversion takes its foundations from the principle of the papal encyclical according to which integral ecology is grounded in the fact that everything is intimately connected, and therefore ecology and social justice are also deeply linked. From here a series of very precise statements and demands follow: it is urgent to address the unlimited exploitation of the "common home" and its inhabitants.
One of the main causes of destruction in Amazonia is predatory extractivism driven by the logic of greed, accompanied by the shedding of innocent blood and the criminalisation of Amazonia's defenders: it is indeed "scandalous," according to the Church, that leaders and even entire communities are criminalised simply for claiming their rights, while at the same time suffering violations of their human rights. Monsignor David Martínez de Aguirre Guinea, Bishop of Izirzada, Apostolic Vicar of Puerto Maldonado in Peru and Special Secretary of the Synod, sounded the alarm at the press conference: "In Amazonia, gold extraction is closer than the word of God. We listened to all the bishops, the auditors who took part, the indigenous peoples, and the alarm cry over the suffocation being experienced in Amazonia was present in every speech."
For this reason, the document states: "we denounce the violation of human rights and extractive destruction; we take up and support campaigns for disinvestment from extractive companies linked to the socio-ecological damage done to Amazonia; we call for a radical energy transition; we propose developing training programmes on the care of the common home designed by pastoral workers and the faithful." The synod was also attended by large delegations of indigenous peoples who, the final document explains, "are the protagonists in the care, protection and defence of the rights of peoples and the rights of nature. In this scenario, the Church's role is that of an ally. They have clearly expressed that they want the Church to accompany them, to walk with them, and not to impose a particular way of being, a specific mode of development that has so little to do with their cultures, traditions and spirituality."
The Church's role is therefore to "strengthen this capacity for support and participation," recognising "the wisdom of Amazonian peoples on biodiversity" and committing to ensuring that this knowledge "is shared within a sustainable and inclusive development model." In the final part of the document dedicated to ecological conversion, the Church acts as a political actor, launching an appeal to the international community in particular on the need to drastically reduce carbon dioxide emissions and other gases linked to climate change, and to protect access to drinking water as a basic, fundamental and universal human right, because it determines people's survival, and is therefore a precondition for the exercise of other human rights"; and committing to the creation of an observatory on ecology and the respect of indigenous peoples' rights, encompassing local religious institutions as well as private associations and which "will not be the solution – explains Cardinal Czerny – but an important contribution, because the environmental problem is like that of migration: it must be addressed globally."
But there is also an important passage from a strictly religious point of view: the introduction of a genuinely new category of sin: "We propose to define ecological sin as an action or omission against God, against one's neighbour, the community and the environment. It is a sin against future generations and a manifestation of acts and habits of pollution and destruction of the selectivity of the environment, transgressions against the principles of interdependence and the breaking of networks of solidarity among creatures." A bold innovation, but a necessary and above all overdue one, explains Monsignor Aguirre Guinea: "Care for ecology has become part of our mission with the encyclical Laudato si', because attacking the earth is a sin. In every corner of Amazonia our missionaries encounter extremely serious situations caused by gold extraction." That is why a conversion is needed: ecological, energetic, in respect of human rights.
