The forthcoming Pan-Amazonian meeting in Rome is a child of the encyclical, Laudato Si’, and brings Pope Francis’ concept of an ‘outward-facing Church’ to life

The synod on the Pan-Amazonian region, which begins in Rome on 6 October, has been given new prominence by the fires in the Amazon rainforest, but it has been in preparation for much longer. The beginning of the process can be traced back to a meeting of bishops from across the Amazon region in 2004, which eventually led to the formation in 2014 of the network, “Repam”, bringing together the Churches of the nine countries that cover the Amazon region: Brazil, Bolivia, Peru, Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Suriname, Guyana and French Guiana.

Another key moment came in May of the following year, when Pope Francis published his environmental encyclical, Laudato Si’: the synod is sometimes called the child of Laudato Si’. The twin tracks of the Latin American bishops and the ecologically minded Latin American Pope united, and on 15 October 2017 Francis announced that a synod on the Pan-Amazonian region would take place in October 2019. He defined its subject as “New ways forward for the Church and for a comprehensive ecology”.

The Repam network swung into action, coordinating a process of consultation that directly involved about 87,000 people from the Pan-Amazonian region over the course of two years. Repam organised and conducted about 300 listening sessions in the region, involving all nine countries.