Synod of Bishops for the Pan-Amazon Convenes in Rome in October

Aug. 29, 2019 (EIRNS)—From October 6-27 in Rome, the Vatican hosts the “Synod of Bishops for the Pan-Amazon,” which was first announced in 2017 by Pope Francis, and is now set to play a part to confuse and herd people into the “eco-emergency” mindset coherent with the eco-fascist financial push.

The fall calendar of such major events includes—after the September global warming events at the UN in New York—the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit over Nov. 16-17 in Santiago, Chile, whose agenda the government plans to connect with the UN’s COP25 climate change summit, starting with pre-sessions of COP25 Nov. 25-30 in Santiago, then the COP25 proper from Dec. 2-13. (COP is Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.)

The preparatory document (instrumentum laboris) for the October Vatican Synod was released in June (“Amazonia: New Pathways for the Church and for an Integral Ecology,” Cinisello Balsamo: Edizioni San Paolo, 2019,) which presents the multiple themes on the agenda, a leading one of which contains scare stories about Amazon ecology. There is a full section on this in the document, which states at one point, “From an environmental point of view, the Amazon is a lung of the planet and one of the sites of greatest biodiversity in the world.”

A key figure in the upcoming Synod is Cardinal Claudio Hummes, from Brazil, who has been calling for “new models of development” based on claims of serving tribes in the Amazon. The document asserts that in the Amazon rainforest,

“a deep crisis has been triggered by prolonged human intervention, in which a ‘culture of waste’ and an extractivist mentality prevail. The Amazon ... is a mirror of all humanity, which, in defense of life, requires structural and personal changes by all human beings, by nations, and by the Church....”

Many other church leaders are denouncing this outlook; there is an international outcry against the Synod’s orientation, which, they say, implies approval of married priests and other liberal theological plans.

As of mid-August, at the same time French President Macron called for emergency action on the Amazon by the G7, preparatory meetings for the Synod are underway in South America. An article in the U.S. news agency, the Catholic News Service Aug. 26, was titled,

“Wildfires Point to the Urgency of Upcoming Amazon Synod, Bolivian Bishop Says.” The “issues” expected from Bolivia include, states the article, “migration from the Andean highlands to the Amazon region, the expansion of farming and ranching, and helping young people maintain Christian values.”

Also, “assistance in obtaining tractors or other equipment to help farmers prepare their fields so they would not have to use fire.” These are identified by northern Bolivia’s Bishop Eugenio Coter.