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.

Reform groups are seeking to bring attention to the fact that 185 men but no women are voting members of the Special Synod of Bishops on the Pan-Amazonian Region that begins on Oct. 6.

“It is the voice of the local church, the voice of the church in the Amazon—of the church, of the people, of the history and of the very earth, the voice of the earth.... And this has value, it is not fake news,” Cardinal Hummes said.

His work is increasingly to support what synod organizers call creating a more “Amazon-like” church. A more Amazon-like church incorporates the customs and sensibilities of the local population, like indigenous spirituality, and promotes new forms of evangelization.

In speaking at a press conference to launch a new book about the priesthood, Cardinal Marc Ouellet, head of the Vatican's commission for Latin America, expressed doubts whether allowing married priests would be the solution for the clerical shortage in the Amazon.

The church has made a great effort to build a genuinely indigenous Catholic tradition in the Amazon region, reports Eduardo Campos Lima, and indigenous leaders have great hopes for the upcoming synod.