[Por: P. Pablo Mora, S.J.]

The Pan-Amazonian Synod will begin in October and will include the participation of all the bishops of the dioceses, apostolic  vicariates and  prelatures that make up the Amazon region. After an intense spiritual discernment of three weeks, they will make the decisions that will indicate new ways of evangelization in the Amazon. But a critical question remains as to how these decisions will be implemented. 

This modest contribution wants to show, from a quick look at the territory, its difficult history and challenges, and the governments of the countries that make up the Amazon, that implementing new ways of evangelization will be a complex and challenging process. The emergence of a clearer consciousness beginning with the twentieth century, of the Amazon as an integrated territory, has begun to assist in this process. This vision, however, has not necessarily meant a better care for this precious part of our common home, as evidenced by the devastating fires in the Amazon this August (2019). 

Nonetheless, this time in the Church continues to be a "kairos", a special time of grace for the Church in the Amazon region. This “kairos” time needed some prior seeds, a previous history and process in which primarily the Aparecida Document (Brazil, 2007) and the birth of REPAM (Pan-Amazonian Church Network), 2014, played an essential role in the last decade. Now is a propitious time for our bishops of the Amazon to think of even newer possibilities, in particular, the creation of an Amazonian Episcopal Conference that can implement the new paths of evangelization that this region needs and is hoping for.   

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