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Manaus — Pope Francis will appoint the first cardinal of Brazil's Amazon region this month, showing concern for the rainforest and its indigenous peoples, said the man he chose for the post. Archbishop Dom Leonard Steiner said in an interview that Francis, the first pope from Latin America, worries about deforestation, threats to indigenous cultures and the pollution of rivers with mercury used for gold. . Amazon miner.
"The cardinal naming of the Amazon shows the Pope's desire to bring the Church closer to the Amazon," Steiner said last week.
Steiner will be one of his twenty-one new cardinals that Pope Francis will appoint on his August 27th in a ceremony known as the Consistry. .
Illegal logging and mining in the Amazon has surged under far-right Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro. His government also opened its doors to more evangelical missionaries in the area.
"As a result, indigenous cultures and their different views of the world are often uprooted," says Steiner. said Mr.
The Catholic Church has been guilty of this in the past but is now defending the protection of indigenous cultures, he said.
"We must ensure that the indigenous peoples do not lose their roots and always drink from their own springs." he said.
Francis held a Synod, a session of consultation and dialogue in the Amazon in 2019. In June, at the Vatican, he met with the bishops of the Brazilian Amazon state, as well as the priests, nuns and lay people of the region.
His Holiness encouraged them to get involved with their local communities, Steiner said. These included natives of forests and tribes who had little contact with the rest of Brazil. }