My experience at the Pre-Forum

By Karen Monteiro, Regional Advocacy and Policy Officer, Jesuit Refugee Service Eastern Africa region

When I was first invited to attend the Pre-Forum and World Social Forum in Brazil, I knew very little about the event and how it would benefit my work in advocacy in the Jesuit Refugee Services (JRS) Eastern Africa region. The theme for the Pre-Forum has been about indigenous peoples in the Amazon region. My work involves working for refugees and forcibly displaced persons. Could my experiences of working in human rights and with refugees add anything to these encounters? The answer is a plain and simple YES.

Karen (on the left) during the March of the WSF

The Pre-Forum provided a great opportunity for networking with like-minded persons from various organizations and also with Jesuit Institutions I never knew existed, but which have the potential of being a powerful advocacy network, which can add value to my work in advocacy. I have learnt that the problems faced by the indigenous peoples of the Amazon region are not unique to them or to indigenous persons in other parts of the world. They are problems experienced also by refugees and displaced persons that I work with in my region. I was surprised by the fact that not many people were aware of the work undertaken by JRS. I therefore felt that the JRS-East African representation to the Pre-Forum has ensured that a wider audience, both within the various institutions of the Society of Jesus and external to it, will become aware of the work undertaken by JRS.

There was a great opportunity for sharing best practices and lessons learnt. During one of the coffee breaks, I was introduced to a Brasilian lady working with indigenous people along the Brasilian border. She described the hardships faced by the indigenous people that make them resort to negative coping mechanisms, such as drugs, alcohol and even suicide. I discussed the psychosocial work undertaken by JRS in Kakuma Refugee Camp, Kenya for refugees who were thirsty for more than just water, medicines, food and shelter. Refugees are trained to become counselors and they then provide counseling services to other refugees as well as training in counseling to ensure the sustainability of the programme. I promised to send the counseling training manuals and they can be translated into Portuguese as well as indigenous languages.

I personally feel that this event has helped to strengthen my faith and also my commitment to the work I am doing. The Ignatian Day and reflection on GC35 ‘Reconciliation with Creation´ has stirred up great interest within me to learn more about environmental issues and how they link with human rights. This is especially important when working with refugees and seeing the environmental degradation caused by refugee camps. We need to be involved in the research that is already being carried out on refugees and the environment.

I believe that this meeting would only be a disappointment if we leave Brasil and do not carry out or follow through on the great ideas that have come about from the meeting. I am very eager to enlist the contacts I have made for advocacy purposes which benefit my region. I am eager to ensure that people learn more about the work of JRS. I am also very eager to ensure that I maintain the good friends – from all corners of the world, of all languages and ages – that I have made in this beautiful region of the world.

Un incontro speciale

di Giuseppe Riggio SJ

Click here to read this text in English.
Para el texto español pulse aquí.
Pour lire ce texte en français, cliquez ici.
Per leggere questo testo in italiano, cliccate qui.

Il Foro Sociale Mondiale di Belém era stato annunciato come quello in cui la partecipazione delle popolazioni indigene sarebbe stata la più alta rispetto alle edizioni precedenti. Ed in effetti le previsioni sono state confermate e la loro presenza è ben visibile nel territorio del Foro, in modo particolare nell’Università Federale Rurale dell’Amazzonia (UFRA) dove si trova il campo del CIMI (Consiglio Indigenista Missionario) che ospita circa 2.000 persone di diverse popolazioni indigene. Il Foro si è perciò tradotto in un’occasione speciale di incontro e scambio per persone appartenenti a diverse popolazioni indigene.

In questo contesto vanno sicuramente ricordati i due incontri che hanno avuto luogo in questi giorni tra la delegazione di SAPI (South Asian Peoples’ Initiative), composta da 29 membri appartenenti a popolazioni indigene indiane (Tribali, Dalit e Adivasi), e le popolazioni indigene dell’Amazzonia. Questo contatto, reso possibile grazie all’aiuto e coinvolgimento dei membri dell’Equipe itinerante, ha costituito qualcosa di veramente significativo per entrambe le parti, che, al di là delle distanze geografiche e delle differenze culturali, hanno scoperto di avere molto in comune dato che devono condividere le medesime difficoltà e confrontarsi con le stesse sfide. Il tema della terra, del rispetto dell’ambiente, dello sviluppo sostenibile si sono rivelati comuni, così come comuni sono le risposte proposte e le vie suggerite.

Parlando con alcuni membri della delegazione SAPI ho potuto cogliere quanto importante sia stato per loro questo incontro. La calorosa accoglienza, il cibo offerto in segno di profonda amicizia, l’essere chiamati parentes (membri della famiglia in portoghese), i doni ricevuti, le danze tradizionali ballate in loro onore … sono state per loro attestazioni significative della comunanza di origini tra i popoli indigeni che supera tutte le barriere. In questo senso è stato davvero toccante vedere le donne indiane e quelle amazzoniche dialogare silenziosamente con gesti e sguardi.

Questo incontro tra gli indiani del gruppo SAPI e gli indigeni dell’Amazzonia non è stato certo pubblicizzato come quello dei cinque Presidente dell’America Latina, ma di certo nella vita di chi l’ha vissuto ha segnato un qualcosa di importante: una nuova consapevolezza della propria identità e dei confini del proprio mondo.

We share a common present

Interview with Xavier Jeyaraj SJ

Click here to read this text in English. 
Para el texto español pulse aquí. 
Pour lire ce texte en français, cliquez ici. 
Per leggere questo testo in italiano, cliccate qui.

Xavier Jeyaraj SJ

The sessions began today with a few words to remember the celebration of Republic Day of India. We joined this celebration by presenting today a conversation with Xavier Jeyaraj, the Coordinator of the social apostolate in South Asia. He has led to Belem and the Pre-Forum a delegation of 29 persons, men and women from different parts of India. The group has already made an impact among all participants and has worked hard to prepare the presentation of an experience describing the situation of tribals and Dalits in India. It is not easy to catch Xavier even for a short interview. His spare time, as he acknowledges, is taken now by the preparation of a shared public session at the World Social Forum with the group of indigenous people from the Amazonia. They want to show that globalization has brought the same havoc to dalits and tribals in India as well as to the indigenous communities of the Amazon region. Between one sandwich and a cup of tea, I asked him whether, two days in Belem, he was satisfied.

After talking to some members of the delegation, Xavier feels quite happy especially on this second day. Many acknowledged that they were struck by seeing other people like them fighting for land; by realizing that other men and women have also been displaced from their homes and lands by the same type of forces, even though they may have different faces. This has helped in the realization that they are not alone, that the issues they face have a global character, and that they are not an exception or an unfortunate accident. Many in the Indian group have been touched, Xavier confessed, by the way other groups have talked about the role faith plays in their lives, Faith seems to have been a strong force to sustain their lives and struggles. This ‘faith’ element acquires for some of the Indian members of the delegation, a new relevance and dimension; they have, quite often, seen their own lives as a continuous and somewhat barren and dead struggle against external and even internal odds. Language is a barrier for many in the group, but tribal and dalit women have been able to touch and embrace women from other parts of the world to communicate and receive love, concern and understanding. They know they are not alone, and they know they have hope in a new future.

SAPI delegation at Pre-Forum

Experiencias de vida, fe y lucha

By Fernando Franco (Con la colaboración de J. Xel, México)

Click here to read this text in English. 
Para el texto español pulse aquí. 
Pour lire ce texte en français, cliquez ici. 
Per leggere questo testo in italiano, cliccate qui.

Una parte importante del programa del Pre-Foro ha sido la presentación de varias experiencias en torno a las luchas de los pueblos indígenas y de comunidades socialmente excluidas por la tierra y una vida digna. Las masacres contra pueblos indígenas y su lucha por la tierra fueron contadas con dramatismo y frescura por los Macuxí del territorio de Roraima (CIR) y por el grupo de SAPI (India). Una religiosa india llegó fue muy aplaudida cuando narró su lucha para que las mujeres de una barriada (slum) de una ciudad en el estado de Andhra Pradesh pudieran organizarse y luchar por sus derechos. Sus palabras fueron un testimonio de la importancia de la fe en Dios y en el pueblo para poder seguir adelante durante los momentos de desánimo y cuando se crean divisiones dentro de la misma organización.

La narración viva de muchas vidas comprometidas nos hizo sentir que solamente desde una profunda mirada desde el Amor por la vida, por la tierra y por los pueblos vivos y concretos es posible sentir en el corazón el dolor, la indignación y la esperanza en un futuro. Este encuentro nos está enseñando experimentalmente, que a pesar de diferencias geográficas y culturales, todos participamos de experiencias comunes: la destrucción del medio ambiente, el desprecio por la vida de los pobres, las luchas por la vida y que a pesar de todas las monstruosidades, la esperanza en un futuro mejor está viva.

 

 

The Pre-Forum has started!

Click here to read this text in English.
Para el texto español pulse aquí.
Pour lire ce texte en français, cliquez ici.
Per leggere questo testo in italiano, cliccate qui

We are on time and we are on track. The official ceremony to start the Pre-Forum Fé’namazônia full of life and colour took place on Saturday, 24 January. Two people who were there, Ghislain Tshikendwa Matadi SJ from Africa and Sergio S. Sala SJ from Europe (who lives in Brazil), tell us of the joy and festivity of the initial ceremony.

French

En marge du Forum Social Mondial qui aura lieu à Belem au Brésil (27 janvier -1er février 2009), la famille ignatienne a prévu de se rencontrer du 24 au 27 janvier 2009. C’est donc dans l’après-midi du samedi 24 janvier que le pré-forum a commencé dans l’enceinte du Grand Séminaire Pie X. Le thème général en était : « Foi religieuse et défense de la vie ». L’assistance d’Afrique et Madagascar y a été représentée par une délégation de sept personnes.

J’ai aimé la joie et la fraternité qui ont caractérisé l’ouverture du pré-forum. Tout s’est passé dans la simplicité, la concorde et la joie. Je revois encore le sourire des participants venus du monde entier : Asie, Europe, Amérique, Afrique, océanie. Ce fut le temps des retrouvailles pour les uns et de nouvelles connaissances pour les autres. On pouvait voir les gens prendre les photos et se saluer fraternellement.

Un petit orchestre a agrémenté la soirée. Les participants ont spontanément envahi la piste, montrant ainsi que la diversité est une richesse à exploiter pour construire un monde où règnent la justice et la paix.   Le mot d’ordre que la délégation africaine a choisi est éloquent : « Un leadership fort pour nourrir les nouvelles espérances en vue de la paix et de l’unité ».

Oui ! J’ai retrouvé la joie et la spontanéité africaines! Que de ce genre de rencontres naisse réellement un monde de justice et de paix ! Un autre monde est possible ! A nous tous d’y travailler, dans l’unité et la concorde.

(Ghislain Matadi SJ, Coordinateur de l’Apostolat Social d’Afrique et Madagascar)

Italian

125 partecipanti al Pre-Forum provengono da 30 paesi d’ogni parte del mondo. Costituiscono una comunità  variopinta e molto eterogenea ma unita da un pensiero comune: un altro mondo è possibile.

Oggi c´e stato il primo momento d’incontro e conoscenza. Le presentazioni per zone geografiche, pur brevi e preparate in pochi minuti, sono state indicative del clima che si respira nel proprio luogo d’origine. I delegati africani vogliono unità  e pace; gli europei sperano che il vecchio continente sia più accogliente e integrato; gli indiani chiedono terra e vita per ogni popolo e razza; i latino-americani sollevano il problema dell’acqua, simbolo di vita che unifica tutti i paesi; i brasiliani, ospiti dell’evento, sottolineano le disuguaglianze ancora presenti in questo pur ricchissimo paese.

Una nota d’attenzione va data ai numerosi indiani, presentatisi con l’uniforme del SAPI (Iniziative dei Popoli Sud Asiatici), gruppo di cui abbiamo già  fatto accenno e di cui scriveremo meglio nei prossimi giorni.

Tutti i partecipanti sono invitati a ragionare insieme sul trinomio fede-religione-difesa della vita, a creare legami tra le varie associazioni presenti, a partecipare al FSM preparando assieme i tre eventi organizzati dalla famiglia inaziana per il 29 gennaio.

L’arcivescovo di Belem ha voluto essere presente alla serata inaugurale, spendendo parole d’apprezzamento per l’opera dei gesuiti in Amazonia e di incoraggiamento a tutti i partecipanti. Infine ha  impartito la benedizione sull’inizio dei lavori del Pre-Forum. (Sergio S. Sala SJ, Brazil)

pictures by Anselmo Dias SJ

We and Creation: Some paradoxes

by Fernando Franco

Click here to read this text in English.
Para el texto español pulse aquí.
Pour lire ce texte en français, cliquez ici.
Per leggere questo testo in italiano, cliccate qui.

Mary Cowell is an English woman who has worked as a documentary maker with the BBC. I met her at breakfast and we talked about a subject she loves deeply: ecology and creation. She is here to share her strong feelings about the lack of awareness on issues of ecology in the Church. She told me that “we need to carefully un-pack what we mean when we say we are made in the image and likeness of God; science in the 21st Century is telling us many challenging things about what it is to be human.  DNA science tells us we share 98% of our DNA with a gorilla – our closest relative – but 60% with a fruit fly and 50% with a cabbage.  So what is the face of God?”

I was struck when she asked me pointedly the role of the Society of Jesus in supporting the right view on Ecology. We Jesuits have talked about the earth in the documents of GC 35. The questions however are coming to us faster and more deeply than we ever expected. She added for my own consideration these words:

“We are intricately inter-connected with all life and we are part of a web of life rather than a Victorian ‘chain of being’.  What does that mean theologically? It is also challenging to us to acknowledge that if all ‘higher’ animals like top predators and mammals, such as ourselves, were wiped out tomorrow, life on earth would carry on fine without us, with a few adjustments.  But if we destroy the beetles on earth then all life dies in about three months.  We are utterly dependent on creatures we have very little emotional connection with and very often see as unimportant – and for Catholics that is a new challenge to our perceptions.”

She strongly criticized an idealized view of creation, a mere dream or movement to contemplate the “the beauty of creation”. She made her point passionately:

“Indeed it is beautiful, but it is blindly ruthless and that beauty is the result of sheer, unthinking competition.  So what does that tell us about God in all things? What this understanding requires is for us to be humble, to accept facts that challenge us and to consider their implications in the light of faith. Humility is the key word!”

I did get the message. We are too far away from this way of thinking and we need to be humble to be open.

[Editor's note: read Mary Colwell's challenging article about "The Future of the Amazon" here]

On the eve of Pre-Forum Fé’namazônia

Click here to read this text in English.
Para el texto español pulse aquí.
Pour lire ce texte en français, cliquez ici.
Per leggere questo testo in italiano, cliccate qui.

The Pre-Forum Fé’namazônia “Faith(s) and Defence of Life”, the meeting organized by Amazonian Jesuits on the occasion of the WSF, is now about to begin.

The first participants at the Pre-Forum Fé’namazônia “Faith(s) and Defence of Life” have already reached Belém do Pará, and they will continue to arrive over the next few hours. Coming from all over the world, the 125 participants are a fair representation of the richness and variety present in the Society of Jesus. Here are a few examples. There is a large and well-qualified presence from the Jesuit Conference of South Asia, thanks to the South Asian Peoples’ Initiative (SAPI) delegation, comprising 29 members (Jesuits, religious sisters, lay men and women). Other Jesuit Conferences are also well represented with Jesuits and collaborators from Europe, Africa, and East Asia. Not surprisingly, the majority of the participants come from Brazil and South America. Then there are also participants who belong to the Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS Eastern Africa and Italy) and Fe y Alegría networks.

In addition to Jesuit participation, the Pre-Forum will also be attended by about 100 diocesan priests, religious men and women and lay people working and living in Amazonia. This large participation is a consequence of the inter-institutional and inter-congregational work done by Amazonian Jesuits and bears witness to the effective, specific way of proceeding adopted by the Society in Amazonian region.

The alternation of important speakers, such as Marina Silva, Frei Betto and Fr José Comblin with those presenting grassroots experiences will characterize the schedule of the three days’ meeting. The six organizations and groups sharing their experiences are: Vicaria del Sur from Caquetá (Colombia); the Sisters of Notre Dame from Anapú, Pará (Brazil); the Inter-institutional Equipe Itinerante da Amazônia (“travelling team”); the Conselho Indigena de Roraima (Indigenous Council of Roraima, Brazil); South Asian Peoples’ Initiative and the Jesuit Conference of Africa and Madagascar.

The participants will have time to reflect on the numerous inputs and share their own experiences during the planned sessions of Working Groups. These groups offer an important chance to discuss concrete proposals for initiatives in areas considered relevant for the defence of life.

Creation and the Exodus: two complementary traditions

by Fernando Franco

Click here to read this text in English.
Para el texto español pulse aquí.
Pour lire ce texte en français, cliquez ici.
Per leggere questo testo in italiano, cliccate qui.

It was a good idea to reach Belem a day and a half earlier. One has more free time and the physical clock gets more time to adjust itself and a busy Jesuit gets the leisure to roam this beautiful vast city of two million people. A group of us decided to attend the morning lectures at the ‘World Forum on Theology and Liberation’, a gathering of ‘progressive’ theologians as they like to call themselves. The Forum meets just before the World Social Forum begins, and this year has attracted more than 900 participants from all over the world.

A theology professor from South Africa presented an insightful and provocative presentation on the ethical implications of sustainability with three examples. The first referred to the unfortunate fact that in many slums of South Africa buckets are used to collect night soil, a euphemism used also quite often in India to describe human waste. Human dignity, he said made it peremptory to stop this practice and provide all human beings with decent sanitation. The second example dwelt with a recent official survey on the water quality of drinking-water reservoirs in South Africa. The conclusions were devastating: the level of the water toxicity was very high. Mining and residual waters were contaminating the reservoirs. The third example talked about the cholera outbreak in Zimbabwe, and the danger that the flood of immigrants into South Africa would become a vehicle of transmission of the terrible disease.

In all the three examples, water was the key element but the role it played was quite different. Poor people need more water to have proper sanitation and some greens may not see it as a problem of ecology. Developing the mining industry had polluted the water and hence ‘development’ was against taking care of the earth. Lack of clean water in a neighbouring country was raising an issue of health in South Africa. The issue of water raises apparently contradictory claims.

The South African professor passionately defended a vision that took a balanced view between those who defend anti-poverty programmes and those who talk of creation per se. We need to integrate these two approaches: the need to give justice and dignity to people and to take care of the earth (water). Both ‘justice to the poor’ and justice to the earth were two complementary sides of one whole. We Christian need to read together the account of creation in Genesis and the account of the people’s liberation in Exodus.

This is going to be a forceful debate at this pre-Forum because it is a debate that is considerably weakening the forces of those who are committed to fight for both.

Povos indígenas partem de Manaus para o Fórum Social Mundial

texto en español

Representantes de 18 povos e 29 organizações indígenas partiram nessa terça feira, dia 20 de janeiro, às 17 horas, do porto de Manaus em direção a Belém/PA para participar do Fórum Social Mundial (FSM), que acontece nos dias 27 de janeiro a 01 de fevereiro na capital paraense. A delegação indígena proveniente dos Estado do Amazonas e Roraima é integrada por aproximadamente 100 lideranças (podendo chegar a 150 ao longo da viagem), dos povos da região representados por organizações indígenas como a Coordenação das Organizações Indígenas da Amazônia Brasileira (COIAB) e o Conselho Indígena de Roraima (CIR). Viajam junto com a delegação representantes de entidades aliadas do Brasil, Venezuela, Bolívia, México e Suíça entre as quais o Conselho Indigenista Missionário – Cimi, Secoya, Xi´nichi do México e a Universidade Indígena da Venezuela – UIV.

Para o Coordenador geral da Coiab Jecinaldo Barbosa Sateré Maué os Povos Indígenas vão ao FSM em Belém/2009 para: “Exigir respeito a nossos Territórios, Bem-Viver, Livre Determinação e Estados Plurinacionais. Propor uma mobilização global em defesa da Mãe Terra, dos Povos e da Humanidade contra a mercantilização da vida, a poluição e o consumo tóxicos e a criminalização social.”.

Com essa finalidade será lançada, em conjunto com várias organizações da sociedade civil, a “Campanha Povos Indígenas na Amazônia: presente e futuro da humanidade”, foram organizados diversas atividades pelas organizações indígenas e as lideranças participarão dos diferentes espaços de debate e articulação do Fórum Social Mundial juntamente com o movimento popular.

La delegación indígena viaja por el más tradicional y más utilizado medio de transporte en la Amazonía: el barco. Sigue su itinerario por el rio más grande del Mundo, el rio Amazonas, y su llegada a Belém/PA está prevista para el día 26/01/2009. Los dias en el barco serán utilizados para socializar las realidades enfrentadas por los diversos pueblos indígenas representados, apropriarse del contenido de la campaña que va a ser lanzada, comprender mejor el sentido y las posibilidades que oferece el FSM y para discutir las estratégias de participación.

Están previstas diversas manifestaciones públicas en defensa de los derechos indígenas y en defensa de la Amazonía en las ciudades de Parintins/AM y Santarém/PA, localizadas a lo largo del rio Amazonas, en el trayecto hasta Belém.

The Future of the Amazon

An article by Mary Colwell (Alliance of Religions and Conservation)

The Amazon basin is undoubtedly one of the most important eco-systems on earth. It regulates the atmosphere, absorbs carbon dioxide, provides 1/3 of all the fresh water entering the oceans and has by far the greatest biodiversity of any region on the planet. And, crucially, all of it sits cradled in the hands of Catholic countries.

The fact that the Amazon is a Catholic issue is largely missed on many people, including many in the Church, but Catholicism is embedded in the communities that live and govern there and therefore I believe this gives the Catholic Church a particular duty of care. Of course there are many Catholics doing extraordinary work, particularly on the issue of land rights, community protection from logging and supporting those who seek to protect the rights of the indigenous peoples who populate many areas of the forest. Some have lost their lives doing it; Sister Dorothy Stang immediately comes to mind, and there are many others. Here I have no doubt the call of the gospel is being proclaimed. But I still have an uneasy feeling about the role of the Church in securing the protection of the rainforest because there are still many questions that need to be addressed in order to promote action.

Protection of the rainforest from the destructive power of loggers, ranchers, mining companies and monoculture will require assertive action on behalf of areas where no people live, and vast areas of the Amazon are uninhabited (by people). And this is where the problem lies, because I believe the Catholic Church – Christianity – has no clear idea of our relationship to nature outside of its connection to people. Of course if people are living in an area the Christian duty to fight for the rights of the poor and dispossessed are clear, and the forest is protected by default. But what about those areas devoid of people? What does Catholicism think about trees and animals when they are not contributing directly to human welfare? If by cutting down a section of rainforest no one loses their home or is killed or made ill, does it matter? Particularly if cutting down the trees provides short-term employment. To put it baldly, does nature have a value in and of itself outside its contribution to human well-being?

To many people, when I have asked that question, the answer is a resounding yes, and it may seem strange that I have posed this question at all. But my experience of talking to all levels of the Catholic Church over the last 4 years has shown that the yes vote lies mainly in the lay community. In my experience the hierarchy of the Church is less likely to be convinced that the Church should act on behalf of that which is not human. And if the hierarchy won’t act then I deeply fear not just for the future of the Amazon but for tundra, ice fields, grasslands, mountains and oceans as well.

The reason I have this impression about the Church is because over the last few years I have been asking a particular question based on a personal experience. About 15 years ago I went to the high Arctic to film a rare species of duck called a Spectacled Eider. This rather bizarre bird lives out its whole life above the Arctic Circle and even over-winters sitting in the middle of the frozen Baring Sea. It is a quite extraordinary and awe-inspiring little bird. I stayed on a remote island and filmed a female brood her clutch of eggs and then the ducklings waddle off into the Arctic Ocean to begin their mysterious lives out of the way of human influence. Very few people see Spectacled Eiders and so this was a great privilege. A few years later I telephoned the man who owned the island to ask how the ducks were doing and his news was deeply shocking. The year after I left he went back again to check on the 4 females that regularly nest on his island. All 4 had been shot sitting on the nest. No one had taken the bodies for food, they hadn’t used the feathers or the eggs; they had been shot simply for being ducks in America. I put the phone down and wept, not just for the wickedness of the people who had carried out this callous act of violence but for the senseless loss of magnificent creatures.

My question to lay Catholics, religious and the Church hierarchy alike is this – If Christ had been walking over that island and found those dead ducks, would he have wept? Not just for the people who had killed animals, but for the loss of the ducks themselves. Overwhelmingly the answer to that question from the lay community is yes, but the hierarchy is split, with many saying no – Christ wouldn’t weep over that which is not human.

This story illustrates my point that there is confusion about our relationship to nature and therefore an unwillingness to put time and resources into the non-human world. It follows that it is unlikely that most of the Amazon Basin will really be the focus of concerted effort by the Church, because it will require it to take up the cause of nature itself. I sincerely hope I am wrong.

This is the year the Church has to act decisively. In November the Copenhagen Cop will bring together 189 major governments to make the next set of decisions about climate change, which will include deals over deforestation and carbon trading. Deforestation accounts for 20% of all greenhouse gases released into the atmosphere, more than all forms of transport combined. Simply by stopping cutting down the rainforest we will slash carbon emissions by 1/5. But other forces are at work, huge industry which needs the raw resources provided by rainforest areas; palm oil, beef, mining, ranching, soya and hardwood – and big money has a loud and powerful voice. Will the Church be there at the table championing the environment or industry? Does it feel secure enough in its own theology of creation to make a case for rainforest protection? The Amazon needs the Catholic Church, but will it be there and respond to the cry for help?

In this year leading up to Copenhagen we don’t need more words, what we need is action. If the Pope would say Mass in the middle of the smoking ruins of a cleared area of forest, then he would focus the attention of the world onto that area in an entirely new way. The power of the symbolic gesture that inspires hearts and minds will do more to protect the rainforest than any number of words. This is the year to fire imagination and propel the world into a new era of environmental concern, and the Pope has the power to help that become a reality.