Pope Francis urges bishops to protect the environment and indigenous communities in the Amazon
Representatives of the Amazon Rainforest's ethnic groups take part in Pope Francis' mass on October 6, 2019 at St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican, for the opening of the Special Assembly of the Synod of Bishops for the Pan-Amazon Region.
On hand for the service were indigenous people from several tribes, some with their faces painted and wearing feathered headdresses, as well as more than 180 South American cardinals, bishops and priests, who donned green vestments like the pope. "The fire set by interests that destroy, like the fire that recently devastated Amazonia, is not the fire of the Gospel," he said. "The fire of God is warmth that attracts and gathers into unity. It is fed by sharing, not by profits."
The seeds of the Amazon synod, however, long predate that visit and even Francis' landmark 2015 encyclical "Praise Be," in which he denounced the profit-at-all-cost business interests destroying the rainforest. Bolsonaro has repeatedly said he wants to promote economic development in the Amazon and regularize small-scale illegal mining. He has also strongly criticized foreign countries for meddling with what he sees is a domestic Brazilian matter.
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