Ms. Casimero described the synod process as a place where Catholics with differences are “coming together” and “able to listen to one another” while also “trying to see and understand from the other person’s point of view.”

This week on “Inside the Vatican,” we devote an entire episode to the Amazon synod, which just entered its final week.

The connection between the Amazon region and the church in the United States runs deeper than it might first appear.

Rainforests are not the only things under threat in the Amazon region. There has also been an uptick in violence against native peoples: land invasions, illegal exploitation of natural resources and damage caused by invaders of indigenous lands went from 96 in 2017 to 109 in 2018.

An anti-poverty summit that took place at the University of Notre Dame Oct. 15-17 brought together American Indian tribal leaders from around the country to discuss poverty issues on their reservations, with a goal of formulating tribal/church strategies to address that poverty.

The Indian cardinal described his experience during the synod so far as an “eye-opener,” allowing him to discover connections to what indigenous communities in his native land are experiencing.