The special synod on the
Amazon that has just opened in the Vatican will also consider
the possibility of making women deacons, Vatican News said
Tuesday.
This would "valorise their ecclesiastic vocation," according
to a summary of Tuesday's morning session.
Pope Francis on Monday opened the Catholic Church's Synod of
Bishops on the Amazon urging the synod fathers "to approach
Amazon peoples on tip-toes, respecting their history, their
culture, and their style of good living".
Francis urged the bishops to respect the "reality of people,
which is sovereign".
He remarked, among other things, that it was "sad" to hear
remarks about the hair plumes of the indigenous people.
The session will pay for the reforestation of 50 hectares of
Amazon forest, he said.
The rapporteur of the synod, Cardinal Claudio Hummes, said
the Amazon was threatened by political interests.
He also said local Catholics had responded to a shortage of
priests by requesting the ordination of married men in their
communities.
A local nun said that it was nuns who carried out most of the
baptisms in the region.
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