More commentary about Pope Francis's new apostolic exhortation #QueridaAmazonia. By the way, be careful of voices saying that interest in questions surrounding the Eucharist (and the priesthood) are purely "Western," "liberal" or "media" concerns...
ncronline.org/news/vatican/d…
It's true that this rich document focuses on many other essential topics that were overlooked by most of the media--the destruction of the environment, the economic exploitation of the region, the plight of the poor and marginalized and the casting aside of the cultural riches...
and wisdom of the local peoples. But it's perhaps not surprising that many in the media, and others, were not as focused on those topics, since many of these issues were touched upon at greater length in Pope Francis's magisterial encyclical "Laudato Si"...
More to the point, a large part of "Querida Amazonia" focuses on specifically ecclesial issues. (Chapter Four is entitled "An Ecclesial Dream.") And, as Pope Francis says in the exhortation, quoting the Catechism, "The Eucharist makes the church"....
and many remote places in the Amazon go without the Eucharist because of the lack of priests. So important questions about people's access to the Eucharist (and, therefore, questions about the priesthood) are not simply "Western," "liberal" or "media" concerns....
Remember that the synod itself, made up mainly of people from the region, recommended in its Final Document consideration of the ordination of "viri probati," or experienced married men. The possible ordination of women as deacons was also discussed during the synod.
These explicitly ecclesial issues are of great concern for the church in that region, and were expressed by the church in the region during the synod....
Likewise, since the Pope's new exhortation is addressed to the whole church, we must also listen to women's voices about his comments on women's roles in the church....
This is all part of the the "true spirit of dialogue" called for by the Holy Father in "Querida Amazonia."
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