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Amazon Synod addresses key issues

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Bishops participating in the Amazon Synod have called on Pope Francis to allow the ordination of married men in order to address a severe lack of priests across the nine-nation region.

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According to Vatican News, the final 33-page Synod document deals with a wide variety of topics including “mission, inculturation, integral ecology, defence of the indigenous peoples, an Amazonian rite, the role of women, and new ministries, especially in areas where access to the Eucharist is lacking”.

In relation to the ordination of married men, the document specifies that in this regard, “some were in favour of a more universal approach to the subject”.

The Synod also asked that the voice of women be heard and that they participate in a more decisive way in decision-making and to take up “more forcefully” leadership within the Church.

The theme of a permanent diaconate for women was “very much present” during the work of the Synod which expressed a desire for participants to share their experiences and reflections with the Study Commission on the Diaconate of Women, established in 2016 by Pope Francis, and “await the results”.

The Synod also focused on the serious environmental threats facing both the Amazon Basin and the people who have protected and called it home for centuries.

The bishops put forward a series of proposals to address both the rainforest and its people, including defining ecological sin and calling for the Church across the Amazon to divest its finances from extractive industries that harm the planet.

More information can be found at http://www.vaticannews.va

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