Monsignor Fabene described inculturation in the liturgy in the region as "a better integration of the symbols and celebratory styles of indigenous cultures … taking into account music and dance, languages and native clothes."
"Recognition and dialogue will be the best way to transform the ancient relations marked by exclusion and discrimination," paragraph 35 states. In several places, the document refers to "the wounds caused during long periods of colonization."
"For this Pope Francis asked 'humbly for forgiveness, not only for the offenses of his own Church, but for crimes against indigenous peoples during the conquest of so-called America.' In this past, the Church has sometimes been complicit in the colonization and this has stifled the prophetic voice of the Gospel," paragraph 38 states.
The document also stresses the importance of having greater respect for the dignity and rights of indigenous populations in the area today.
"The Church cannot but worry about the integral salvation of the human person, which involves promoting the culture of indigenous peoples, talking about their vital needs, accompanying movements and joining forces to defend their rights," paragraph 143 states.
The synod document therefore recommends that Catholics in the region, "join the basic social movements, to prophetically announce a program of agrarian justice that promotes a profound agrarian reform, supporting farming organic and agroforestry."
Participants in the special synod of the Amazon will include residential bishops and ordinaries of the nine Pan-Amazonian ecclesiastical territories in Bolivia, Brazil, Ecuador, Peru, Colombia, Venezuela, French Guiana, Guyana and Suriname; the presidents of the seven bishops' conferences of the Pan-Amazonian Region; members for the Roman Curia; the president of the Pan-Amazonian Ecclesial Network (REPAM); and the members of the pre-Synodal Council.
Upon the working document's publication June 17, Cardinal Lorenzo Baldisseri, Secretary General of the Synod of Bishops, said:
"The image of a Church with an Amazonian face, courageous in its prophetic proclamation of the Gospel in defense of Creation and of indigenous peoples, is the horizon towards which we are walking under the guidance of Pope Francis."
Courtney Mares is a Rome Correspondent for Catholic News Agency. A graduate of Harvard University, she has reported from news bureaus on three continents and was awarded the Gardner Fellowship for her work with North Korean refugees.