Pope Francis said, “We must come to realize that what we are accumulating and wasting is the bread of the poor.”

Bishop Kräutler said there are thousands of indigenous communities in the Amazon that “do not celebrate the Eucharist except perhaps one, two or three times a year.” The bishops in favor of ordaining married men, he said, “are not against celibacy. We just want these brothers and sisters of ours not to have just a celebration of the word but also the celebration of the Eucharist.”

In November we will strike again, and on Earth Day we will strike in even greater numbers than before.

Follow America's coverage of the 2019 Synod on the Amazon.

At an opening Mass for the synod on the Amazon, Pope Francis urged participants to exercise “daring prudence” and called for evangelism without “colonialism.” Vatican correspondent Gerard O’Connell reports.

The cross is made from a piece of a wooden boat used by migrants to cross the Mediterranean to land on the island of Lampedusa.

Promoting religious freedom, providing humanitarian assistance and fighting human trafficking are three major issues the Vatican and the U.S. administration agree on and on which they will continue to coordinate efforts, panelists said at a joint symposium.

“Our vocation is to help men and women to live their human lives and to live them to the full,” said Father Czerny. “This is the big mission. This is what it means to preach the Gospel and to bring the Good News to the ends of the earth.”

But the Pan-Amazon Synod’s organizers say much of the unhappiness with the its working document simply reflects Eurocentricism. Many critics “have little knowledge of the Amazon and in some cases have no commitment to its people.”

Climate strikes led primarily by young people are happening around the world. How are Jesuit schools engaging with this issue?