Loading...
Loading...
Click here if you don’t see subscription options
Inside the VaticanOctober 30, 2019
Participants from the Synod of Bishops for the Amazon celebrate Mass in the Catacombs of Domitilla in Rome Oct. 20, 2019. Several dozen synod participants at the Mass signed a pact promising to care for people and the earth and to give up a "colonist mentality and posture." (CNS photo/courtesy Father Julio Caldeira-REPAM)

The Amazon synod is finally over after approving its final document of suggestions for Pope Francis. This week on “Inside the Vatican,” Gerry and I unpack that document, and we dive into the specifics of its suggestion that the church ordain married men to the priesthood.

We also take a look at the synod’s call for additional research into women deacons. While Pope Francis’ commission to study women deacons previously focused on the role female deacons played in the early church, new calls from the synod are taking into account the urgent need for ministers in remote regions of the Amazon rainforest.

In addition to the synod’s concrete proposals, we take a look at the larger themes of the document, like the bishops’ commitment to take the side of the poor in the Amazon region. Faced with rapid industrialization by little-regulated corporations and the deaths of indigenous leaders, are the region’s bishops ready to follow in the footsteps of the “new martyrs” of the Amazon?

Links from the show:

Comments are automatically closed two weeks after an article's initial publication. See our comments policy for more.
JR Cosgrove
5 years 6 months ago

Martyrs? A little much for a non religious objective. Especially when the objective may be suboptimal for the people.

Craig B. Mckee
5 years 6 months ago

Worst case scario:
the NON PLACET votes will become the new order of the day!
http://www.sinodoamazonico.va/content/sinodoamazonico/es/documentos/documento-final-de-la-asamblea-especial-del-sinodo-de-los-obispo.html

The latest from america

At his installation Mass, the pope said, "in this our time, we still see too much discord, too many wounds caused by hatred, violence, prejudice, the fear of difference, and an economic paradigm that exploits the Earth’s resources and marginalizes the poorest.”
Gerard O’ConnellMay 18, 2025
Leo XIV said, “the church’s social doctrine is called to provide insights that facilitate dialogue between science and conscience, and thus make an essential contribution to better understanding, hope and peace.”
Gerard O’ConnellMay 17, 2025
Spanish Legionnaires carry a large image of the crucified Christ in the rain April 18, 2019, outside a church in Málaga, Spain, during a Holy Week ceremony. (CNS photo/Jon Nazca, Reuters)
Spain’s confraternities often make headlines in the foreign press as their Holy Week processions have become a tourist attraction, demonstrating the complex reality of their fame.
Bridget RyderMay 16, 2025
Beyond a simple affirmation of the pope’s authority, the letter by Arturo Sosa, S.J., called attention to its particular place of importance in the life of the Jesuits.