THE NEED FOR INTERFAITH DIALOGUE IN THE SYNOD FOR THE AMAZON – 2019

Abstract

The article examines how the Synod for the Amazon – 2019 can promote dialogue with the different religious traditions found in that region. It sees this dialogue as a historical debt owed by the Church, particularly to the religious traditions of indigenous and African-American peoples. The qualitative analysis method of the bibliography relevant to the theme was used to analyze the demands of religious pluralism in the Amazon region, that the Church must respond to through a dialogic engagement. This study proposes ways to re-evaluate the Church's theological thinking and structures, in order to help the synod process strengthen the “culture of meeting” and of “dialogue” with the different ways of believing. It concludes that interfaith dialogue should be part of the method and content of today's mission, as it is essential to the “new pathways for the Church and for an integral ecology”.