The introduction of Catholic Christianity to the tropical mountains and forests of the Amazon river basin was not universally good news for the indigenous peoples there. Nor have all the wrongs done to them in the past been righted. But the programme for this autumn’s synod of bishops from the region – encompassing Brazil, Colombia, Bolivia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Peru, Surinam and Venezuela – offers exciting possibilities for a new beginning.

Media attention has highlighted the proposal, apparently smiled upon in the Vatican, that the law of celibacy might be relaxed to address the severe shortage of clergy in the region, and that married men of mature years and good standing should become eligible for ordination. Yet no less significant is the proposal for a heightened church engagement with, and challenge to, the causes of the exploitation and oppression that are such a burden among the poor of the Amazon, where indigenous peoples predominate.