Deep Dive: Querida Amazonia

Pope Francis’ highly-anticipated exhortation “Querida Amazonia” or “Beloved Amazon” came out last week, sparking more conversation about what the document did not say, that is, anything on ordaining married men as priests, than what it did say. Pope Francis expressed his discontent with the media’s fixation on married priests to a group of American bishops last week.

This week on the “Inside the Vatican” podcast, the hosts take a deep dive into “Querida Amazonia,” beginning with its calls for environmental, cultural and economic justice. We unpack the hostile reception the document has gotten from Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro and examine what kind of impact the Catholic Church could have by siding with the poor and marginalized in the region.

Then, we turn to the hot-topic questions of married priests and women deacons. We try to contextualize Francis’ decisions on the topics within his broader vision of the church as lay-led, and we discuss frankly the challenges that have appeared on the road to actualizing that vision.

Links from the show:

• Querida Amazonia
• James Martin, S.J.: Five Takeaways from 'Querida Amazonia'
• Gerard O’Connell: What’s in Pope Francis’ apostolic exhortation on the Amazon synod?
• Colleen Dulle: Inside ‘Querida Amazonia:’ A Conversation with Cardinal Michael Czerny, S.J.
• Pope Francis shares with U.S. bishops his frustration with reaction to ‘Querida Amazonia’
• Some disappointed, some enraptured by Pope Francis’ ‘Querida Amazonia’

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