Abstract

The article dwells on the Special Synod for the Pan-Amazonian Region (Rome, 6-28 October 2019), with particular attention paid to the three very concrete challenges that the synodal assembly faced: an ecological challenge, in front of the increasingly rapid destruction of the Amazon biome; a social challenge, in relation to the peoples of the Pan-Amazonian region, primarily the indigenous ones at risk of genocide; an ecclesial challenge, represented by the welcoming of the “otherµ in all its diversity. The article then focuses on the broad and participatory ecclesial process that preceded and accompanied the synodal event, as well as on the mobilisation and initiatives that marked those weeks, starting with the Eucharistic celebration in the Roman catacombs of Santa Domitilla, during which a group of synod fathers, led by Cardinal Claudio Hummes, signed a Pact of the Catacombs for the Common Home, in clear continuity with the Pact for a Servant and Poor Church signed on 16 November 1965 (a few days before the end of Vatican II) by over forty Council Fathers.