English 
Like every year, the Church in Brazil proposes to the faithful a theme to experience the dimension of charity and their commitment to the transformation of society. The Campaign of Fraternity this year has the theme: Fraternity and integral ecology. The theme was chosen for a number of reasons. The urgency to reflect on climate change and its consequences on the life of humanity, COP 30, which will be held in Belém to reflect on climate change, the 10th anniversary of Laudato Sii (Pope Francis’ encyclical) and the celebration of 800 years of Canticle of creatures of Saint Francis of Assisi.
For us, here in Manaus, in the heart of the Amazon, the topic is not new. There are various Catholic and non-Catholic groups and organizations that debate, reflect and study nature, rivers, the rich biodiversity, climate phenomena and are concerned about the destruction of the forest and water pollution, the increasingly frequent environmental catastrophes.
What is new for us is to connect this theme to our life of faith. Called to collaborate in building the Kingdom of God, we must embrace with greater conviction this mission entrusted by God to humanity: to cultivate and protect our “common home”. This is an invitation that Pope Francis has been repeating for several years. He did it by writing the encyclical Laudato Sii in 2015, convoking a Synod for Amazonia and writing the document “Querida Amazonia” in 2020, offering the encyclical “Laudate Deum” in 2023.
With this campaign of fraternity, we feel particularly invited, as a local Church, to change our gaze, to learn again to contemplate the beauty of Creation, to see it not only as a market object, a possibility of profit, an inexhaustible source of natural wealth that can be exploited endlessly. We feel we must set a limit and change direction and habits for the good of all. The Amazon, the lungs of the world and the largest basin of drinking water, must be protected. We want the disturbing question of the documentary “La lettera” (inspired by Laudato Sii) to shake us once again with the question “what will we leave to future generations”?
To raise public awareness, we held a press conference with the Cardinal, one of the auxiliary bishops and ourselves from the archdiocesan pastoral coordination team.
We called on local radio and TV stations to announce the theme of the Fraternity Campaign and to explain its importance to their audience.
We have created formative moments for volunteers to involve pastoral workers in parishes and communities so that they can energize meetings in families, schools and among young people to talk and discuss the issue and decide together on concrete actions in defense of the environment and begin conversion processes.
On Ash Wednesday, the beginning of the Lenten season, we officially opened the Campaign with an ecological walk and a celebration of the Word in a municipal park on the banks of the Rio Negro River. Gathered around our Cardinal Archbishop Don Leonardo Steiner, and his auxiliary bishops, we prayed and asked God for the grace to begin this Lenten season with a sincere desire for conversion to return to God with all our hearts, but also to review our relationship with creation and defend life. The ashes that we received in the Eucharistic celebration celebrated in the communities marked the beginning of our Lenten journey.
We know that there are already small initiatives in many of our parishes to recycle the waste we produce, especially plastic. There are community gardens that do not use agro toxics and many other projects in defense of creation, but we feel called to take a step further because protecting our “common home” means protecting and taking care of the life and existence of the human being.
Sr. Rosanna Marchetti, Brazil
