This is the new "Catacomb Pact for the Common House"

Pact of the catacombs for the common house

For a church with an Amazon face, poor and servant, prophetic and Samaritan

We, participants of the Panamazonian Synod, share the joy of living among many indigenous peoples, quilombolas, shores, migrants, communities on the outskirts of the cities of this vast territory of the planet. With them, we experienced the strength of the gospel that works among the little ones. The meeting with these people challenges us and invites us to a simpler life of sharing and gratuitousness. Influenced by listening to their cries and tears, we wholeheartedly welcome the words of Pope Francis:

"Many of the brothers and sisters of the Amazon carry heavy crosses and await the comforting liberation of the Gospel, the loving caress of the Church. For them, with them, let's walk together.

We remember with gratitude the bishops who, in the Catacombs of Santa Domitila, at the end of the Second Vatican Council, signed the Alliance for a Church poor and in the service. We remember with respect all the martyrs who are members of the basic ecclesial communities, pastoral and popular movements; Aboriginal leaders, missionaries and missionaries, lay people, priests and bishops, who shed their blood because of this option offered to the poor, to defend life and fight for the preservation of our common home. To thank you for your heroism we join in our decision to continue your fight with firmness and courage. It is a sense of urgency imposed in the face of the aggression that is now devastating the Amazonian territory, threatened by the violence of a predatory and consumerist economic system.

Before the Holy Trinity, our particular Churches, the Churches of Latin America and the Caribbean and those that are united in Africa, Asia, Oceania, Europe and North America, at the feet of the apostles Peter and Paul and the A multitude of martyrs of Rome, Latin America and more particularly of our Amazon, in deep communion with the successor of Peter, invoke the Holy Spirit and commit ourselves personally and collectively to the following:

1. In the face of the extreme threat of global warming and the depletion of natural resources, let us assume a commitment to defend the Amazon jungle in our territories and adopt our attitudes. From there come water donations for much of South America, the contribution to the carbon cycle and global climate regulation, incalculable biodiversity and a rich partner for humanity and the whole world.
2. Recognize that we are not the owners of Mother Earth, but of her trained sons and daughters dust from the earth (Gen 2: 7-8) guests and pilgrims (1 animal 1, 17b and 1 animal 2, 11), called to be your jealous caregivers and caregivers (Gen 1:26) Therefore, we commit ourselves to an integral ecology, in which everything is interconnected, the human race and all creation because all beings are girls and sons of the earth and on them. the Spirit of God floats (Genesis 1: 2).
3. Welcome and renew each day God's covenant with all that is created: "For my part, I will establish my covenant with you and your offspring, with all the living things that are with you, birds, domestic and wild animals, in short, with all the beasts of the earth that came out of the ark with you"(Gen 9: 9-10, Gen 9: 12-17).
4. Renew in our churches the preferential option for the poor, especially for indigenous peoples, and guarantee with them the right to be protagonists of society and the Church. Help them preserve their lands, cultures, languages, stories, identities and spiritualities. Recognize that they must be respected locally and globally and, therefore, encourage, by all means within our reach, to be welcomed on an equal footing in the global concert of other peoples. and other cultures.
5. Consequently, let us abandon in our parishes, dioceses and groups all kinds of colonialist attitudes and postures, welcoming and valuing cultural, ethnic and linguistic diversity in a respectful dialogue with all spiritual traditions.
6. Report all forms of violence and aggression against the autonomy and rights of indigenous peoples, their identity, their territories and ways of life.
7. Announce the liberating novelty of the gospel of Jesus Christ, welcoming the other and the different, as was the case with Peter in the house of Cornelius: "You know well that it is forbidden to a Jew to interact with a stranger or to enter his house. . But God has shown me that it should not be said that no man is profane or unclean "(Acts 10:28).
8. Ecumenical march with other Christian communities in the incultuous and liberating proclamation of the Gospel, with other religions and with people of good will, in solidarity with the peoples of origin, poor and small, for the defense of their rights and the preservation of the House. town
9. Establish in our private churches a synodal way of life where the representatives of the Algerian people, missionary and laity, because of their baptism and in communion with their pastors, have a voice and vote in the diocesan assemblies, the pastors' councils and parishes In short, in whatever suits them in the government of the communities.
10. We commit ourselves to urgently recognize the existing ecclesial ministries in the communities, under the responsibility of pastoral agents, indigenous catechists, ministers and ministers of the Word, giving great importance to their attention to the most vulnerable and excluded. .
11. To render effective in the communities that have entrusted us with the passage of a pastoral visit in the pastoral presence, ensuring that the right to the Table of the Word and the Table of the Eucharist is effective in all communities.
12. Recognize the services and true diakonia of the large number of women who lead communities in the Amazon today and seek to consolidate them with an appropriate ministry of women community leaders.
13. Seek new ways of pastoral action in the cities where we operate, with the role of lay people and young people, paying attention to their peripheries and to migrants, workers and the unemployed, students, educators, researchers and the world of culture and communication.
14. Protect yourself against the avalanche of consumerism with a happily sober, simple and encouraging lifestyle with those who have little or nothing; reduce the production of waste and the use of plastics, promote the production and marketing of agro-ecological products and use public transport whenever possible.
15. We place alongside those who are persecuted for the prophetic service of denouncing and redressing injustices, defending the land and the rights of children, and welcoming and supporting migrants and refugees. Cultivate true friendships with the poor, visit the simplest and the sickest, exercise the ministry of listening, comfort and support that bring encouragement and renew hope.

Conscious of our weaknesses, our poverty and our littleness in the face of such great and serious challenges, we commit ourselves to pray for the prayer of the Church. May our ecclesial communities, above all, help us with their intercession, their affection in the Lord and, where appropriate, with the charity of fraternal correction.

We welcome the invitation of Cardinal Hummes to be guided by the Holy Spirit in these days of the Synod and on our return to our churches:

"Let yourself be carried in the mantle of the mother of God and queen of the Amazon. Let's not let the repository dominate us, but mercy before the cry of the poor and the earth. It will take a lot of prayer, meditation and discernment, as well as a concrete practice of ecclesial communion and synodal spirit. This synod is like a table that God has prepared for his poor and asks us to be the ones who serve the table. "

We celebrate this Eucharist of the Covenant as "an act of cosmic love". "Yes, cosmic! Because even when it is performed on the small altar of a village church, the Eucharist is always celebrated, so to speak, on the altar of the world. "The Eucharist unites heaven and earth, embraces and penetrates all creation, the world of the hands of God returns to him in full and happy worship: in the Eucharistic Bread," creation tends to deification, to the wedding saints, to unification with the Creator Himself. "It is for this reason that the Eucharist is also a source of light and motivation for our environmental concerns and leads us to be the guardians of all creation. "

Catacombs of Santa Domitila

Rome, October 20, 2019