Cardinal Czerny Calls for Reflection and Conversion at Amazonian Meeting

Cardinal Michael Czerny addressed participants of the 25th Inter-Institutional Meeting of the Amazonian Itinerant Team, highlighting the importance of reflecting on their work over the last two and a half decades.

The meeting's theme is 'Itinerant Team: Our LIFE in mission is CARE,' with the motto 'Weaving charisms and resources at the service of the Kingdom.' Cardinal Czerny offered three questions to the participants:

'What have we done for Christ? What are we doing for Christ? What will we do for Christ?' He noted that an anniversary like 25 years warrants an honest look back, asking what the team has accomplished in terms of being a close and supportive presence, accompanying life under threat, learning from the peoples of the Amazon, weaving communion among different charisms, and reaching places together.

The Cardinal emphasized that the mission of the Itinerant Team is not just to bring something to others but also to listen, learn, accompany, and make oneself open to transformation. He stressed that the Synod for the Amazon was a reminder that the Church needs pastoral, cultural, ecological, and synodal conversion.

Cardinal Czerny noted that the Amazon today is still wounded, with its people enduring threats, abuse, exploitation, and new forms of violence. He called for the Church to walk alongside those who suffer, care for creation, and respect life in any form, particularly human life. The Cardinal concluded his message inviting all participants to enter the meeting with the perspective of disciples who allow themselves to be questioned by the Lord.