Pope voices ‘outrage’ over Amazon exploitation
Pope Francis yesterday pleaded for social justice and environmental respect for the Amazon basin, but failed to recommend the controversial idea of married priests. In a highly anticipated text, Francis exhorted the faithful to "feel outrage" over exploitation of the indigenous and destruction of land devastated by illegal mining and deforestation. Notably absent in his text, however, was mention of priestly marriage, a controversial suggestion made by Amazon bishops during a three-week synod on the region last October as a way to increase the number of priests who could perform Mass in remote areas. Francis' papacy has been marked by passionate defence of the world's marginalised people, whether the poor, migrants or prisoners, and his Amazon text focused on a "history of suffering" by the region's local populations.
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