Held on Thursday 11 October in the Faculty of Theology of the Salesian Pontifical University (UPS) in Rome was the “Seminar on the Amazon. Contradictions, lacerations and prophetism. A glance at the Synod of Bishops 2019", jointly organized by the Faculty of Theology UPS, the Dicastery for the Salesian Missions and the Postulation for the Causes of the Saints of the Salesian Family.
"Of course, when it comes to the topic of Amazzonia, the work of the Church is at stake: it is not just about biodiversity, the diversity of cultures, but above all about the purpose of the Church's presence in that context," explained Professor Damásio Medeiros, SDB, Dean of the Faculty of Theology.
For his part, prof. Antonino Colajanni, Professor of Social Anthropology at the University of Rome "La Sapienza", said: "The experience of the forest is a fundamental experience because it makes us return to an integral and global vision of man as a member of a community, but in an environmental context."
Fr Juan Bottasso SDB, professor at the Salesian Polytechnical University of Quito, Ecuador, underlined: "Salesians can present two great icons at the Synod, two paradigms of what can be the action among the natives: Fr Rodolfo Lunkenbein, martyr in Brazil; and Fr Luis Bolla, father 'Yánkuam', a missionary among the indigenous Achuar in Ecuador and Peru."
The subsequent talks were those of prof. Jorge Lachnitt, of the "Don Bosco" Salesian University in Campo Grande, Brazil, who spoke of "Evangelization, human promotion, martyrdom" in the Amazon context; and that of Fr Pier Luigi Cameroni, Postulator General of the Causes of Saints of the Salesian Family, who outlined in detail the missionary and spiritual profile of Fr Rodolfo Lunkenbein (1939-1975), starting from his motto: "I came to serve and give life."
Following the seminar at UPS, other events have been scheduled: another appointment, in November in Manaus, in the Brazilian Amazonia, with the participation of the Salesians working in that context; and an International Conference, scheduled in Rome for next February.
