The Vatican has today published the list of participants for the Special Assembly of Bishops for the Pan-Amazon region, which will be held Oct. 6 to 27. The list includes all of the diocesan bishops of the nine countries from the Amazon region, as well as three from the United States: Cardinal Kevin Farrell, the prefect of the Dicastery for the Laity, Family and Life, Cardinal Sean O’Malley of Boston and Bishop Robert McElroy of San Diego.

The list includes all of the diocesan bishops of the nine countries from the Amazon region, as well as three from the United States.

The list also includes representatives of the indigenous peoples of the Amazon region, 12 top officials of the Roman Curia offices, 15 members elected by the Union of Superiors Generals of the men’s religious orders, most of whom work in the Amazon region, 25 experts (including at least four women) who will collaborate with the Special Secretariat of the Synod and 55 auditors. There are also six “fraternal delegates” from the Evangelical, Anglican and Presbyterian Christian churches in the Amazon region.

Among the 32 members nominated by Pope Francis are Cardinals Christoph Schonborn (Austria), Angelo Bagnasco (Italy, president of the Conferences of European Bishops), Jean-Claude Hollerich (Luxembourg), and in addition to O’Malley the other members of the Council of Cardinal Advisors: Oscar Rodriguez Maradiaga, Reinhard Marx, Oswald Gracias and Giusseppe Bertello.

Twelve “special” guests have been invited to the synod, including Ban Ki-Moon (Korea), former Secretary General of the United Nations; René Castro Salazar (U.S.A.), assistant director of the FAO department on Climate, Biodiversity, Land, Water at the United Nations; Josianne Gauthier (Canada), Secretary General of CIDSE, the international Catholic Alliance of Agencies of Development; Carlos Alfoso Nobre (Brazil), winner of the Nobel Prize for Peace in 2007, Jeffrey Sachs (U.S.A.), professor of sustainable development at Columbia University, and Hans J. Schellenhuber (Germany), professor of atmospheric physics and emeritus director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research.

The pope had already appointed Cardinal Claudio Hummes (Brazil) to the key position of chief relator, and two special secretaries: Michael Czerny, S.J., who will be made a cardinal later this month, and Bishop David Martinez de Aguirre Guinea, a Dominican from Peru.

The three president delegates who will chair the plenary sessions and were also nominated by Pope Francis are: Cardinals Baltazar Porras Cardozo (Venezuela), Pedro Barreto Jimeno, S.J., (Peru), and Joao Braz de Aviz (Brazil and the Vatican).

Gerard O’Connell is America’s senior Vatican correspondent and author of The Election of Pope Francis: An Inside Story of the Conclave That Changed History. He has been covering the Vatican since 1985.