Pope Francis

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https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope-francis/mass-casa-santa-marta/2019-10/pope-francis-mass-santa-marta-homily-hypocrites.html

Pope at Mass: Learn to point the finger at yourself, to be freed of hypocrisy
15 October 2019, 13:34

Pope Francis during his daily Mass at the Casa Santa Marta  (Vatican Media)
Reflecting on the reading during his daily Mass at the Casa Santa Marta, Pope Francis says that hypocrisy kills, and that learning to accuse ourselves and to open up to the Lord can cure us of it.
By Francesca Merlo

In his homily at Mass on Tuesday, Pope Francis says that Jesus does not tolerate hypocrisy. “We must be cured of hypocrisy,” he said, “and the medicine is knowing how to point the finger at ourselves before God”, since whoever is unable to do so is “not a good Christian”.

One way to another

In the Gospel reading, Jesus is invited to lunch by a Pharisee and is highly criticised by the master of the house because he does not perform ritual ablution before sitting at the table to eat.

Pope Francis explains that this behavior is not tolerated and is hypocritical because the Pharisees invited Jesus to lunch “to judge him, not to befriend him”. This is exactly what hypocrisy is, he says, “appearing one way but acting in another”.
 

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https://www.vaticannews.va/en/vatican-city/news/2019-10/click-pray-rosary-smart-digital-device-world-peace.html

“Click to Pray eRosary” – wearable smart device to pray the rosary for peace
15 October 2019, 17:25

The launch of the "Click to Pray e Rosary" initiative. 
In the middle of the Extraordinary Missionary Month of October, the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network launched the “Click To Pray eRosary” at a press conference in the Vatican on October 15. October is also the month of the Rosary.
Vatican News

What is it?

The Click To Pray eRosary is an interactive, smart and app-driven wearable device that serves as a tool for learning how to pray the rosary for peace in the world. It can be worn as a bracelet and is activated by making the sign of the cross. It is synchronized with a free app of the same name, which allows access to an audio guide, exclusive images and personalized content about the praying of the Rosary.

Organizers say it is within the reach of everyone. Aimed at the peripheral frontiers of the digital world where the young people dwell, the Click To Pray eRosary serves as a technology-based teaching tool to help young people pray the Rosary for peace and to contemplate the Gospel.  The project brings together the best of the Church’s spiritual tradition and the latest advances of the technological world.
 
https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/vatican-promotes-smart-rosary-selling-for-109-72180
Vatican promotes 'smart rosary,' selling for $109
By Courtney Mares

Vatican City, Oct 15, 2019 / 09:44 am (CNA).- The Vatican promoted the launch of a ‘smart rosary’ bracelet Tuesday compatible with an iOS and Android app, which costs over $100.
 

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Synod of Bishops for the Pan-Amazon Region, Vatican, Oct. 6-27, 2019

https://cruxnow.com/amazon-synod/2019/10/15/u-s-bishops-speak-at-synod-for-the-amazon/
U.S. bishops speak at synod for the Amazon
Carol Glatz  Oct 15, 2019
CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE

(Credit: Paul Haring/CNS.)
ROME - The Synod of Bishops for the Amazon is not a “referendum” on priestly celibacy; it is looking for ways to provide for the sacramental life and formation of the people there, U.S. Cardinal Sean P. O’Malley of Boston said.

“Because one of the themes is the terrible shortage of priests in the Amazonia region, I was trying to stress that, if we want to have priests in that area, we are going to have to make sacrifices to have people who can promote vocations and accompany and train seminarians in their own milieu and their own languages,” he said he told synod participants.

The cardinal and Bishop Robert W. McElroy of San Diego both were appointed by Pope Francis to be voting members of the synod, which was being held Oct. 6-27 at the Vatican.
 

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Synod of Bishops for the Pan-Amazon Region, Vatican, Oct. 6-27, 2019

http://www.ncregister.com/blog/edward-pentin/who-is-in-the-pan-amazon-synods-small-working-groups
Oct. 14, 2019
Who Is in the Pan-Amazon Synod’s Small Working Groups?

In previous synods during the pontificate of Pope Francis, these working groups have been an instrument for advancing contentious agendas.
Edward Pentin

VATICAN CITY — If previous synods can be taken as a guide for future ones, the circoli minori (small working groups), rather than the general congregations, can be where agendas pursued by a minority can be introduced into the synod proceedings.

The German-language group was a particular focus in this regard, both during the 2014 and 2015 synods on the family and at the synod on youth last year.

On these occasions, participants in those German-language groups tabled subtle amendments to synod final reports in an apparent attempt to push through a preset agenda.

During the second synod on the family, this involved including selective parts of John Paul II’s teaching that would effectively soften his explicit teaching against remarried divorcees receiving Holy Communion.

For the youth synod, it entailed submitting amendments using terms such as “new anthropology,” instead of explicitly the loaded LGBT acronym, which some observers saw as an attempt to force gender ideology on the synod and have it adopted by the synod as a whole.

For the current Amazon Synod, the synod secretariat has so far only publicly released details of the relator and moderator of each group, but the Register has obtained a list of members of the 12 language groups, which are divided into five Spanish, four Portuguese, two Italian and one English/French.
 

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Synod of Bishops for the Pan-Amazon Region, Vatican, Oct. 6-27, 2019

Pope names members of drafting committee for Amazon synod final doc
By Hannah Brockhaus

Vatican City, Oct 15, 2019 / 09:53 am (CNA).- Pope Francis Tuesday made four personal nominations of members to the group responsible for drafting the final document of the Amazon synod.

In addition to the members who will be voted to the committee by the synod, Pope Francis has nominated Cardinal Christoph Schönborn of Vienna, Austria; Argentinian Bishop Marcelo Sánchez Sorondo, chancellor of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences; missionary Archbishop Edmundo Ponciano Valenzuela of Asuncion, Paraguay; and Italian Salesian Fr. Rossano Sala.

Maltese Bishop Mario Grech, who is pro-secretary general of the Synod of Bishops, is also part of the drafting committee.

The nominations were announced by the Vatican communications chief Paolo Ruffini during a press conference on the Synod of Bishops on the Amazon, an Oct. 6-27 meeting on the Church’s life and ministry in the region.

The drafting committee will meet over the next two weeks to assemble into a document the recommendations of the small groups -- called circoli minori -- from their discussions during the Amazon synod.

The final document of the synod will then be voted on by synod members, called synod fathers, on the second-to-last day of the gathering. Per synod norms, it must pass with a 2/3 majority. The document of synod recommendations will then be given to Pope Francis for him to use or not use as he desires in the writing of a post-synodal exhortation.
 

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Synod of Bishops for the Pan-Amazon Region, Vatican, Oct. 6-27, 2019

https://www.vaticannews.va/en/church/news/2019-10/amazon-synod-briefing-migration-and-inculturation.html
Amazon Synod Briefing: Migration and Inculturation
15 October 2019, 17:03

The Holy See Press Office hosts four Synod participants at a briefing on Tuesday afternoon, and summarizes the discussions at the 11th General Congregation of the Synod for the Amazon, attended by 180 Synod Fathers together with Pope Francis.
By Vatican News

The Prefect of the Vatican Dicastery for Communications, Dr Paolo Ruffini, opened the briefing by announcing the four members named by the Pope to the Commission responsible for drafting the final document of the Synod. They are: Cardinal Christoph Schönborn, Bishop Marcelo Sánchez Sorondo, Archbishop Edmundo Ponciano Valenzuela Mellid, and Fr Rossano Sala.

Summary by Dr Ruffini

Dr Ruffini went on to summarize the topics that emerged during the morning’s 11th General Congregation. These included the question of ecumenism and its connection to evangelization. He confirmed the Synod Fathers had rejected the idea of both “inter-Christian colonialism” and “proselytism”, quoting Benedict XVI as saying “the Church grows through attraction”.

The need for a Pan-Amazon educational network was also discussed, said Dr Ruffini, an “integral education” that is conducted “through dialogue and respect for cultures”.

The issue of finding points of convergence was also mentioned, he said, in terms of complementary and reciprocity between human beings and creation.

Dr Ruffini quoted the indigenous term for “knowing yourself” as being a “good starting point” in finding connections among cultures. Synod participants, he said, are aware their interventions are raising a series of issues that go beyond the local dimension of the Amazon Region and are applicable to all the world.

Comments by Fr Costa

Jesuit Fr Giacomo Costa is Secretary of the Information Commission for the Synod. He noted that the topic of “synodality” had been referenced in terms of “proximity”, “walking together”, and “reaching out”. 

Synod participants also spoke about the need for building better ties among dioceses and religious congregations, he said. They highlighted how religious life could promote interculturality using an inter-congregational approach, he said. According to participants, there is also the need for a “new relational style that must have an impact on local communities”.

There were renewed calls in the Synod Hall for some kind of “permanent ecclesiastical organization” in the post-synodal phase, said Fr Costa. This could include an “observatory for human rights” to help provide integral scientific and human education”.

Fr Costa noted how the Synod recognized the contribution of REPAM, the Pan-Amazon Church network, which provided both support and a podium where people could express themselves.

Finally, Fr Costa related the request to canonize the Amazon martyrs, as expressed during the morning Congregation. According to the proposal, recognizing the martyrs would show how the Gospel is rooted in everyday engagement with the region. It would also help build the “rationality of being gift” and pass on “life-promoting signs” for the region, he said.
 
https://www.vaticannews.va/en/vatican-city/news/2019-10/synod-amazon-synthesis-eleventh-general-confregation.html
Amazon Synod: The need for a permanent episcopal Pan-Amazonian structure
15 October 2019, 16:33

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Synod of Bishops for the Pan-Amazon Region, Vatican, Oct. 6-27, 2019

Synod Day 8: Leaving room for the abundant outpouring of the Spirit
15 October 2019, 21:53

Pope Francis attended the 12th and final General Congregation of the Synod of Bishops on Tuesday afternoon. There were 173 Synod Fathers present. On Wednesday morning, Synod participants return to working in the small language groups. Their work will be presented to the assembly on Thursday afternoon, 17 October.
Vatican News – Vatican City

The Amazonian world wants a Church that is allied to it. The Synod participants were reminded that the Church cannot speak of the poor while forgetting that the people are being crucified. That would be committing the sin of indifference, of omission. The Church is called to take up the cry of the people and of the earth, with the Gospel as her point of departure. This is the only way that she will assume the countenance of the Good Samaritan, will become missionary, capable of defending the least, without being afraid of the possibility of martyrdom. “It is better to die fighting for life, than to live for death”, as one person boldly stated. Thus the Synod continued its journey with a reminder that came up in several interventions to leave space for the abundant outpouring of the Holy Spirit rather than remaining closed in by functional solutions.

No to victimization, more co-responsibility

The populations in several of the more vulnerable regions of Amazon see themselves as having often been abandoned. One example are street children. The Church is called to help them to boost their self-esteem, to prevent them from becoming victims. In the end, this too is a risk because it is not solving the underlying problems. The region itself is undeniably a victim of abuse. What is truly necessary, it was noted, is to help the people themselves feel co-responsible for the construction of their own destiny. Believers, therefore, should be at the forefront of reclaiming their rights and assuming the obligation of living simply and hopefully as they journey toward the Kingdom promised by God to His children.
 
At the end of the 12th General Congregation, just before the part dedicated to spontaneous interventions, Pope Francis asked to speak. When he had finished, those in the Hall watched a film about the floating hospital named after Pope Francis which was inaugurated this past August. This hospital serves two purposes: that of bringing the Gospel and health care to hundreds of thousands living in the Brazilian State of Parà along the Amazon River who can only be reached by river.

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https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2019-10/pope-visits-home-former-gendarmerie-commander.html

Pope visits family of former Gendarmerie Commander
16 October 2019, 09:04

Former Commander of Vatican Gendarmerie   (ANSA)
Pope Francis visits the home and family of Domenico Giani, former Commander of the Vatican Gendarmerie.
By Vatican News

After concluding Tuesday afternoon’s session of the Synod for the Amazon, Pope Francis paid an unexpected visit to the home, inside Vatican City, of the former Commander of the Vatican Gendarmerie, Domenico Giani.

The Pope spent time talking to him, his wife and daughter. Domenico Giani also has a son who lives in the United States. Pope Francis’ visit confirmed the appreciation he has already expressed towards Giani and his family. 

Monday’s press release from the Holy See Press Office announcing Giani's resignation specified how the Pope had "expressed his appreciation to the Commander for his gesture, an expression of freedom and institutional sensitivity, which honours Commander Giani and the work he has carried out with humility and discretion in the service of the Petrine Ministry and the Holy See".
 

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https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2019-10/pope-message-world-food-day-wasting-bread-poor.html

Pope’s Message for World Food Day: Wasting the bread of the poor
16 October 2019, 12:41

Pope Francis sends a message to the FAO Director General, Qu Dongyu, for World Food Day, expressing his concern for the “distorted relationship between food and nutrition”.
By Vatican News

Pope Francis begins his message by referring to the theme for this year’s World Food Day: “Our Actions Are Our Future. Healthy Diets for a #ZeroHunger World”. The Pope notes that “despite efforts made in recent decades, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development is yet to be implemented in many parts of the world”.

Food wasted or consumed in excess

Pope Francis calls attention to the “distorted relationship between food and nutrition”. He cites the fact that while 820 million people suffer from hunger in the world, “almost 700 million are overweight”. He calls it a “cruel, unjust and paradoxical reality” that there is food for everyone and yet not everyone has access to it. The Pope laments the fact that “food is wasted, discarded and consumed in excess, or destined for other purposes than nutrition”.
 

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https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2019-10/pope-francis-audience-acts-peter-cornelius-god-creativity.html

Pope at Audience: An evangelizer should not impede God’s creativity
16 October 2019, 12:37

Pope Francis at the General Audience of Oct. 16, 2019  (AFP or licensors)
Pope Francis in his General Audience of Wednesday, focuses on the experience of St. Peter in the Acts of the Apostles to urge Christians to allow themselves to be amazed by God’s surprises and creativity with which He makes Himself known as the "Lord of all".

By Robin Gomes

The starting point of Pope Francis’ catechesis was the experience of St. Peter in the Acts of the Apostles, where he has a vision of a large tablecloth with four-legged animals, reptiles and birds descending from above and a voice asking him to eat their meat. As a good Jew, Peters abstains from eating anything impure. But the voice repeats: “What God has made clean, you are not to call profane.”

Looking beyond, to the heart

The Pope explained that through this episode, God wants Peter not to evaluate and categorize events and people as pure and impure, but to learn to go beyond, to look at the person and the intentions of his or her heart. In this regard, Jesus says that what makes man impure does not come from outside but only from within, from the heart.

After this vision, God sends Peter to the house of Cornelius, a non-Jew who is God-fearing and religious, given to works of charity and prayer. In that house of pagans, Peter preaches Christ and the forgiveness of sins to anyone who believes in Him. Cornelius and his family who are filled with the Holy Spirit are baptized by Peter in the name of Christ.
 
https://zenit.org/articles/pope-at-general-audience-continues-catecheses-on-acts-of-the-apostles/
Pope at General Audience Continues Catecheses on Acts of the Apostles (Full Text) 
October 16, 2019 15:42•Virginia Forrester

Video at the link below--
Pope Francis - General Audience 2019-10-16
https://www.youtube.com/user/vatican

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Synod of Bishops for the Pan-Amazon Region, Vatican, Oct. 6-27, 2019

Dissenting note struck on married priests as solution for the Amazon
John L. Allen Jr.  Oct 16, 2019

ROME - For the first time in one of the Vatican’s daily news briefings during the Oct. 6-27 Synod of Bishops on the Amazon, a dissenting voice was struck Wednesday about the idea of ordaining married men to solve priest shortages in the region.

“I don’t see celibacy as the main problem” in attracting young men to the priesthood, said Bishop Wellington Tadeu de Queiroz Vieira of Cristalândia in Brazil, emphasizing that nobody had appointed him a spokesman for the synod but nevertheless saying, “I think there are many who share my views.”

“We’ve got other problems, and the main one that has to be addressed is our own lack of consistency, our infidelity and scandals, our lack of holiness, that sometimes represents an obstacle preventing other young people from following this path,” Queiroz said.

“We must allow people to hear the calling of Jesus, and sometimes because of our actions they’re unable to do so,” he said.

“If I lead a holy life, I won’t have a problem with ordained ministers, because young people are looking for values and things they can believe in,” Queiroz said, “and I can’t believe that Jesus has lost his power of attraction.”

The Brazilian prelate also raised another dimension of the debate around priest shortages, which is imbalances in the way priests are distributed. Within countries, he said, sometimes priests don’t want to take what are usually considered hardship assignments.
 
The Vatican’s official briefers, meanwhile, took pains Wednesday to stress that participants don’t want the exercise to get bogged down with specific problems, striving instead to focus on the big picture.
 

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Synod of Bishops for the Pan-Amazon Region, Vatican, Oct. 6-27, 2019

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/vatican-communications-official-carved-figure-at-amazon-synod-not-virgin-mary-76253
Vatican communications official: Carved figure at Amazon synod not Virgin Mary
By Hannah Brockhaus

Vatican City, Oct 16, 2019 / 07:18 am (CNA).- Fr. Giacomo Costa, a communications official for the Amazon synod, said Wednesday a wooden figure of a nude pregnant woman, which has been present at events related to the synod, is not the Virgin Mary, but is instead a female figure representing life.

“It is not the Virgin Mary, who said it is the Virgin Mary?” Costa said Oct. 16 at a press conference for the Amazon synod, a meeting taking place in the Vatican Oct. 6-27 on the ministry of the Church in the region.

Costa referred to a controversial image of a female figure which was part of a tree-planting ceremony in the Vatican Oct. 4. The same figure has been present in the vicinity of the Vatican at various events happening during the synod, under the “Casa Comun” initiative.

The wooden figure of a pregnant woman has been described as both a Marian image and as a traditional indigenous religious symbol of the goddess Pachamama, or Mother Earth.

When told “many people have said” the woman is a figure of the Virgin Mary, Costa added “‘many have said,’ okay, as you like, but I have never heard that.”

“There is nothing to know. It is an indigenous woman who represents life,” he stated, adding that his information commission will look for more information about it, but “it is a feminine figure” and is “neither pagan nor sacred.”

Paolo Ruffini, prefect of the Vatican communications dicastery, said Wednesday he sees the figure as “representing life.”
 

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Synod of Bishops for the Pan-Amazon Region, Vatican, Oct. 6-27, 2019

https://cruxnow.com/amazon-synod/2019/10/16/amazon-prelate-floats-alternative-to-married-clergy-send-some-roman-priests-home/
Amazon prelate floats alternative to married clergy: Send some Roman priests home
Inés San Martín  Oct 16, 2019

ROME - One Venezuelan prelate taking part in the current Synod of Bishops on the Amazon says people back home have a creative alternative for coping with chronic priest shortages, beyond the much-discussed idea of married clergy to serve isolated rural communities.

Rather than ordaining married men, he said, their proposal is that he bring some of the surfeit of priests who clog the streets of the Eternal City back with him to the rainforest.

“All these priests and religious that we see on TV… It cannot be that they’re all studying in Rome,” said Bishop Johnny Eduardo Reyes, apostolic vicar of Puerto Ayacucho, Venezuela, explaining that the idea of bringing Roman priests back to the Amazon was floated in the hall by another Venezuelan bishop.

“The distribution of priests and religious is not good,” he said.

Globally speaking, two-thirds of the 1.3 billion Catholics in the world today live in the southern hemisphere, but two-thirds of the world’s 415,000 Catholic priests currently reside in the northern hemisphere.

More basically, Reyes insisted that inventing new ministries, including a form of the priesthood for married men, isn’t the synod’s main challenge. More important, he argued, is the question of proclamation.
 

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Synod of Bishops for the Pan-Amazon Region, Vatican, Oct. 6-27, 2019

https://www.thetablet.co.uk/news/12129/new-amazon-rites-intended-to-enhance-liturgy
16 October 2019, The Tablet
New 'Amazon' rites intended to 'enhance' liturgy
by Junno Arocho Esteves, CNS

Proposals at the Synod of Bishops for the Amazon for indigenous- or Amazonian-rite ceremonies are meant to enhance and enrich the liturgy with cultural signs and gestures, not change what is essential for Catholics, a bishop said.

Spanish-born Bishop Rafael Escudero Lopez-Brea of Moyobamba, Peru, said Catholics are not asking for a new "liturgical rite", but want to maintain the essential elements "received by the Lord and the apostles in the Eucharist" while introducing cultural elements.

"When we speak of this possibility, it means to introduce some symbols into the Eucharist, some rites that do not affect what is essential in the Eucharist because if not, we would ruin the sacrament and go against that revelation," Bishop Escudero told journalists.

During that morning's session of the synod, several participants addressed the theme of inculturation which, according to a Vatican News summary, would "open the church to discover new paths within the rich diversity of Amazonian culture".

At a briefing at the Vatican press office, Bishop Escudero said the idea of incorporating local traditions and cultural elements in the liturgy is not new, offering the examples of the Eastern Catholic churches and of Latin-rite Masses in Africa.
 

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Synod of Bishops for the Pan-Amazon Region, Vatican, Oct. 6-27, 2019

https://www.vaticannews.va/en/church/news/2019-10/amazon-synod-press-briefing-the-spiritual-dynamic-of-the-synod.html
Amazon Synod Press Briefing: The spiritual dynamic of the Synod
16 October 2019, 17:40

At the Synod for the Amazon on Wednesday, participants continued their discussions in small groups, as the assembly reached its halfway point.
By Vatican News

Following the morning session, they daily Synod press briefing focused on the unique spiritual dimension of the gathering, and its significance for the whole world, with speakers addressing topics such as our common responsibility in caring for the earth; the need for an integral human ecology; vocations; and the role of the laity.

Summary by Dr Ruffini

The Prefect of the Dicastery for Communication, Dr Paolo Ruffini, summarized some the main topics “at the centre of discernment” for the synod, including: the Amazon region as a paradigm for the earth as our common home; a calling to ecological conversion; interculturation; access to the sacraments and education; ministries; migration; rural and urban life; international and multilateral engagement for human rights. He said participants at the Synod felt strongly the need to focus on an overall, unified vision, guided by the Holy Spirit, rather than getting caught up too much in details.

Comments by Fr Costa

Fr Giacomo Costa emphasized once again that the Synodal path is very different from worldly gatherings. It is an experience marked not by discussions or debates, like a secular parliament, but rather has a spiritual dynamic, marked especially by fraternity. He spoke too about the abundance of “joy, trust, faith” that so far have characterized the assembly.
 
A question about the small group reports

Dr Ruffini, asked about the small circles, said that the Press Office expects to be able to publish the reports of the groups on Friday afternoon.
 

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Synod of Bishops for the Pan-Amazon Region, Vatican, Oct. 6-27, 2019

https://www.vaticannews.va/en/vatican-city/news/2019-10/amazon-synod-missionary-fr-peter-hughes-indigenous.html
Amazon Synod: 'For the 1st time the indigenous are the subjects of their own history'
17 October 2019, 13:54

The head of the Macuxi ethnic group of northern Brazil's Roraima state speaks during a convention on the Amazon Synod   (AFP or licensors)
Missionary Father Peter Hughes, says the Amazon Synod is finally giving the people of the Amazon the occasion to make their voices heard and to engage all of us in caring for our Common Home.
By Linda Bordoni

One of the participants in the Special Synod on the Amazon is an Irish Columban priest, who has spent over five decades as a missionary based in Latin America.

Father Peter Hughes, who has spent most of his life in Peru, has closely been engaged in the formation and in the development of the REPAM - the Church network for the defense of Amazonia - and also in the preparation for the ongoing Synod.

He told Linda Bordoni “it’s becoming crystal clear that the will of God, as expressed by Pope Francis, particularly through his documents and especially by Laudato Si”, that care for the planet and for all of its peoples “is at the heart of our Christian faith”.
 

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Synod of Bishops for the Pan-Amazon Region, Vatican, Oct. 6-27, 2019

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/brazilian-bishop-yes-amazon-people-can-understand-celibacy-45414
Brazilian bishop: Yes, Amazon people can understand celibacy

Bishop Jose Luis Azcona. Credit: CNBB / Press Release
Breves, Brazil, Oct 17, 2019 / 03:12 am (CNA).- A retired bishop from Brazil has spoken out against the claim that married priests are necessary in the Amazon region because the indigenous people do not understand celibacy.

“It’s not the indigenous culture that finds insurmountable difficulties in understanding celibacy. It's that there was not a real inculturation of the Gospel among them,” said Bishop emeritus José Luis Azcona of Marajó, Brazil.

“For many reasons, there has been a transmission of the faith that was not transformed into culture, a faith that was not completely received, not thought out completely, not lived faithfully.”

Therefore, he said, “the first step in solving the problem of celibacy is not the abolition of it” but to work toward a more authentic incultration of the Gospel.

In an article sent to ACI Digital, CNA’s Portuguese language sister agency, Azcona commented on the Synod of Bishops on the Amazon, an Oct. 6-27 meeting on the Church’s life and ministry in the region.

Bishop Erwin Kräutler, the retired head of the Xingu prelature in Amazonian Brazil and a contributor to the synod’s working document, said last week that married priests are the only option in the region because “the indigenous people do not understand celibacy.”

Azcona, who led the Amazonian diocese from 1987-2016, rejected this argument, noting that cultures throughout history have had to learn truths about sexuality and celibacy, and saying this learning process does not post “an insurmountable hindrance.”
 

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Synod of Bishops for the Pan-Amazon Region, Vatican, Oct. 6-27, 2019

https://cruxnow.com/amazon-synod/2019/10/17/indigenous-priest-says-celibacy-doesnt-cause-shortages-in-amazon/
Indigenous priest says celibacy doesn’t cause shortages in Amazon
Elise Harris  Oct 17, 2019

ROME - Father Justino Sarmento Rezende, one of the few indigenous priests participating in this month’s Synod of Bishops on the Amazon, has weighed in on the issue of celibacy, saying it is a virtue everyone can live, but refrained from offering an opinion on the issue of married priests in the Amazon.

Asked during an Oct. 17 press conference his thoughts on comments made by Bishop Emeritus Erwin Kräutler of Xingu, Brazil that implied the priest shortage in the Amazon, and specifically indigenous communities, is in part because indigenous people have difficulty understanding celibacy, Sarmento Rezende shot down the notion, saying celibacy is “a gift from God” that anyone can live, albeit with effort.

“People from every culture in the world can live in celibacy when, freely and not because they have been forced, a person says, ‘I want to adopt this lifestyle,’” said Sarmento Rezende, an expert in indigenous spirituality and pastoral inculturation who comes from Brazil.
 

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Synod of Bishops for the Pan-Amazon Region, Vatican, Oct. 6-27, 2019

https://cruxnow.com/amazon-synod/2019/10/17/bishop-says-amazon-mission-shouldnt-begin-with-the-poor-but-with-christ/
Bishop says Amazon mission shouldn’t begin with the poor but with Christ
Inés San Martín  Oct 17, 2019

ROME - It’s admittedly a bit of a discordant note in a synod of bishops in which the Church’s social gospel, focused on the poor, the climate and the indigenous people of the region, is a touchstone, but one prelate taking part says the point of departure really shouldn’t be the slums of the Amazon but the person of Christ.

“I told my seminarians 32 years ago: if we begin from the periphery, from the favelas [Brazil’s famous slums] to try to find Christ, our efforts won’t come to fruition, because we’ll encounter thousands of enemies along the way,” said Italian Bishop Giuliano Frigeni, 73, who’s served in Brazil’s Amazon region for 40 years and been the bishop of Parintins since 1999.

“But if our faith starts with Christ, when we reach the periphery, we’ll be able to say we have found him,” the bishop said. “We have to start from Christ if we want to reach those who’ve been discarded by today’s world.”
 
On the subject of Liberation Theology and the choice for the poor that the Church in Latin America made in the late 1960s and early 1970s, Frigeni said that as it unfolded Evangelicals became more powerful, with preachers of the Renewal of the Spirit, who say that “whoever loves the Lord will be filled with gifts, find a job, have a better house … They offered the theology of prosperity instead of our theology that kept saying ‘the poor at the center, the poor at the center’,” he said.

“Well, the poor said ‘It’s all good, but I’m going with those ones who are offering salvation,” Frigeni said. “The problem with that is that Christ didn’t come to solve our financial problems, but to give us a different look on life. Our preferential option has to be Christ. From him, we reach the poor.”
 

[grace-land]

Synod of Bishops for the Pan-Amazon Region, Vatican, Oct. 6-27, 2019

https://www.thetablet.co.uk/news/12128/indigenous-woman-brings-message-from-elders-to-elder-pope-francis
15 October 2019, The Tablet
Indigenous woman brings message from elders to 'elder' Pope Francis
by Barbara J. Fraser, CNS

Anitalia Pijachi, an indigenous woman from the Amazonian town of Leticia, Colombia, came to the Synod of Bishops for the Amazon bringing a message from the elders of her people to Pope Francis, an elder of the Catholic Church.

The first Europeans to arrive in the Amazon were "invaders," she said. "They never asked permission of mother nature or of the people who lived there. They imposed the cross and the Bible. That caused a great deal of resentment," and in some cases forced indigenous peoples from their territories.

But when the pope, during his 2018 visit to Peru, asked Amazonian people to tell the church how it should walk with them, "that was a question that asked permission"' she Catholic News Service.

Pijachi, an Ocaina Huitoto woman who is not Catholic, said that when she heard that, she spoke to the elders of her people, who approved of her participation in pre-synod gatherings as long as the church respected indigenous cultures.

"The elders said that first the Catholic Church and all churches must recognise us as having a right to our own culture and customs, our own spirituality," she added. "They must not impose themselves and change" those beliefs.