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  • Synod: "A complete conversion, putting Christ at the center in the Amazon church"

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October 27, 2019 "How often, even in the Church, the voices of the poor are not listened to and perhaps mocked or silenced because they are uncomfortable". This was underlined by the Pope in the homily of the concluding mass of the Synod on the Amazon. "We pray to ask for the grace to know how to listen to the cry of the poor: it is the cry of hope of the Church. Making ours their cry, even our prayer, we are sure, will cross the clouds", the Pope said.

Hypocritical 'religion of the self' even in Christians, it raises walls
Pope Francis then warns against the "religion of the self", of those who "consider themselves better than others", who set their distance and raise their walls to increase them, "forget their neighbor", who are "waste", "who praises himself". A religion "hypocritical with its rites and its 'prayers', forgetting the true worship of God, which always passes through the love of one's neighbor. Even Christians who pray and go to Mass on Sunday are subjects of this religion of the I ", stressed Francis and added:" Many are Catholics, they admit they are Catholics, they have forgotten they are Christians "," many Christian and Catholic groups are going along this path ". And then the Pope sends an invitation: "Let us pray to ask for the grace not to consider ourselves superior, not to believe in it, not to become cynical and mocking. We ask Jesus to heal us from speaking evil and from complaining about others, from despising someone: they are unpleasant things to God ".

"Scarred Amazon, walls rise and usurp assets"
Raising walls, despising others and their traditions, occupying their lands. This is what the man of today still does, said the Pope speaking of "the scarred face of the Amazon". "How many times - the Pontiff pointed out - whoever stands in front, like the Pharisee with respect to the publican, raises walls to increase distances, making the others even more wasteful. Or, considering them backward and of little value, he despises their traditions, it cancels the stories, it occupies the territories, it usurps the goods. How many presumed superiorities, which are transformed into oppression and exploitation, even today! ". "We saw it at the Synod when we talked about the exploitation of Creation, of the people, of the inhabitants of the Amazon, on the trafficking of people on the trade of people. The mistakes of the past - he underlined - were not enough to stop plundering others and inflicting wounds on our brothers and on our sister earth: we saw it in the scarred face of the Amazon ".