'Querida Amazonia': Commentary on Pope Francis' Apostolic Exhortation [In-Depth]
Splendor, drama, mystery: with these three words Pope Francis offers to the people of God and all persons of goodwill his post-synodal apostolic exhortation Querida Amazonia (Beloved Amazon), on the special synod for the Amazon, which took place in Rome, October 6-27, 2019.[1]
With this synod, held at the heart of catholicity in Rome, the Church set out in search of prophecy, shifting its center of gravity from the Euro-Atlantic area and looking to a land full of gigantic political, economic and ecological contradictions.
Francis is seeking solutions that consider the rights of the original peoples, and that defend the cultural richness and natural beauty of the earth. And he seeks to support Christian communities with suitable pastoral solutions. In this regard, the engine of the exhortation -- we immediately anticipate -- is in the tenth paragraph of the fourth chapter, entitled "Expanding Horizons Beyond Conflicts." When there are complex issues, the pope asks us to go beyond contradictions. When there are polarities and conflicts, we need to find new solutions, to break the impasse by looking for other better ways, perhaps not imagined before. Transcending dialectic oppositions is one of the fundamental action criteria for the pontiff. It is always good to keep this in mind.
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A text that accompanies the reception of the synod
Let me say straightaway that Querida Amazonia is a unique text. I will try to highlight why.
This is the first time that a document of such magisterial importance explicitly presents itself as a text that "accompanies" another one, namely, the synod's Final Document, The Amazon: New Paths for the Church and for an Integral Ecology.
The pope immediately wishes to affirm a posture, that of listening and discernment. He writes that he listened to the interventions during the synod and read with interest the reports of the discussion groups. He states: "In this exhortation, I wish to give an echo of what this process of dialogue and discernment has caused within me. I will not go into all of the issues treated at length in the final document. Nor do I claim to replace that text or to duplicate it. I wish merely to propose a brief framework for reflection that can apply concretely to the life of the Amazon region a synthesis of some of the great concerns that I have expressed in earlier documents, and that can help guide us to a harmonious, creative and fruitful reception of the entire synodal process" (No. 2).
The exhortation therefore does not go beyond the Final Document, nor does it simply intend to give it its seal. Francis accepts it entirely and accompanies it, guiding its reception within the synodal journey, which is in progress and certainly cannot be said to be concluded. The pope has written this because he wants to give an impetus to the synodal process. Indeed, Francis decides this time not to quote the document at all because that would give the impression of a selection of contents. Instead, his aim is to invite a complete reading so that it may enrich, challenge and inspire the Church: these are the very three verbs used by the pontiff.
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Contemplation and poetic 'logos' in the pontifical magisterium
Another important note: the exhortation has a specific contemplative slant. This call to contemplation and to have an aesthetic gaze resounds seven times in the document. In one section Francis speaks of the "prophecy of contemplation." He asks, in particular, to learn from the indigenous peoples and to take on this gaze in order to avoid considering the Amazon only a case to be analyzed or a theme to be engaged with.
There is a precise recognition of a "mystery" that translates into a "relation" of respect and love, which is proper to contemplation. The Amazon as a land is a "mother" with whom to enter into communion. Thus "our voices will easily blend with its voice and become a prayer: 'as we rest in the shade of an ancient eucalyptus, our prayer for light joins in the song of the eternal foliage'" (No. 56). The quote is from Sui Yun (Katie Wong Loo), an Amazonian poetess of Chinese origin.
This is how the contemplative gaze is translated: into poetry. This exhortation is intertwined with poetic quotations because poetry preserves meaning and draws it -- especially in this case -- in a peculiar way from experience. The pope considers it indispensable and thus mentions in his exhortation as many as 17 writers and poets, most of them Amazonian and popular: Ana Varela, Jorge Vega Márquez, Alberto Araújo, Ramón Iribertegui, Yana Lucila Lema, Evaristo de Miranda, Juan Carlos Galeano, Javier Yglesias, Ciro Alegría, Mario Vargas Llosa, Euclides de Cunha, Pablo Neruda, Amadeu Thiago de Mello, Vinicius de Moraes, Harald Sioli, Sui Yun, Pedro Casaldaliga.
In this sense, alongside the stories and testimonies, the pope includes the poetic and symbolic logos as an integral part of the magisterial text. Between reality, thought and poetic vision there seems to be no caesuras. In fact, some things -- for example, the notion of "quality of life" -- can only be understood "within the world of symbols and customs proper to each human group" (No. 40), which have the capacity to connect. The Amazon, on the other hand, "has become a source of artistic, literary, musical and cultural inspiration" (No. 35). The various arts, and especially poetry, have been inspired by water, the jungle, life, as well as cultural diversity and ecological and social challenges.[4]
Popular poets, in particular, are the guardians of this wisdom because, the pope writes, they fell in love with the beauty of the earth and water, and tried to express the life it gives them as in a dance.[5] But they "lament the dangers that menace it. Those poets, contemplatives and prophets, help free us from the technocratic and consumerist paradigm that destroys nature and robs us of a truly dignified existence" (No. 46).
The operation carried out by Francis is stronger than it may appear. Giving voice to the poets, he challenges the technocratic, consumerist and "efficiency-ist" approach to the Amazon and its great questions.
Consequently, Francis presents his arguments by articulating them not in four themes or arguments, but in four dreams, which correspond to the five conversions in the Final Document.
A dream combines a warm, affective and inner connotation with issues that are sometimes thorny and complex. He writes: "I dream of an Amazon region that fights for the rights of the poor, the original peoples and the least of our brothers and sisters, where their voices can be heard and their dignity advanced.
"I dream of an Amazon region that can preserve its distinctive cultural riches, where the beauty of our humanity shines forth in so many varied ways.
"I dream of an Amazon region that can jealously preserve its overwhelming natural beauty and the superabundant life teeming in its rivers and forests.
"I dream of Christian communities capable of generous commitment, incarnate in the Amazon region, and giving the Church new faces with Amazonian features" (No. 7).
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