Pope Opens Synod by Saying the Amazon Needs God’s Fire

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – “The fire ignited by interests that destroy, such as the one that recently devastated the Amazon, is not that of the Gospel. The fire of God is a heat that attracts and gathers in unity. It feeds on sharing, not on profits”.

During the celebration, Pope Francis also said that the fire of God is also love that enlightens, warms, and gives life, and not the one that “spreads and consumes”.

“When people and cultures are consumed without love or respect, it is not the fire of God, but of the world. But how many times has God’s gift been, not offered, but imposed! How many times has there been colonization instead of evangelization! God preserves us from the greed of new colonialism”.

The Pope urged that the Spirit of God inspire the Synod to renew the paths of the Catholic Church in the Amazon.

“To rekindle the gift in the fire of the Spirit is the opposite of letting things flow without doing anything. And to be faithful to the newness of the Spirit is a grace that we must seek in prayer. May He, who makes all things new, give us His audacious prudence; may He inspire our Synod to renew the paths for the Church in the Amazon, so that the fire of the mission may not be extinguished”.

The Synod of the Amazon takes place tharough October 27th on the theme “Amazonia: New Paths for the Church and for an Integral Ecology”.

The religious event’s opening celebration began with the admission of 185 Synod Fathers (Bishops), 58 of them from Brazil. Representatives of indigenous communities were also present.

Source: Vatican News / Agência Brasil

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