[1] The obstacles to evangelization include the difficult terrain that makes native populations hard to reach,[2] the great variety of languages spoken, and the resistance of landowners and business interests.
[3] The synod defines the region to include all or parts of Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Peru, Venezuela and Suriname, most of which are countries where the population is largely Roman Catholic.
[4] As early as 1912, in the encyclical Lacrimabili statu, Pope Pius X denounced the owners of the rubber plantations in Peru for mistreating the native population[5] and condemned Capuchin missionaries for failing to protect them.
[15] A preparatory document released in June 2018 identified the key themes of the Synod as the role of women in the Church, the rights and traditions of indigenous people, and the need to provide greater access to the Eucharist.
On 4 May 2019, Francis appointed Hummes as General Rapporteur of the synod, and named two Special Secretaries: Bishop David Martínez De Aguirre Guinea, apostolic vicar of Puerto Maldonado, Peru, and Father Michael Czerny, under-secretary of the Section for Migrants and Refugees of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development.
[23] Cardinal Gerhard Müller, former Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, went in the same direction, stating that the working document contained "false teaching" on God's revelation.
"[26] Cardinal Burke and Bishop Athanasius Schneider announced a campaign of 40 days of praying and fasting to ensure that "error and heresy don’t pervert the imminent Synod.
[29] Cardinal Sarah, prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship, said that he was "afraid that some Westerners will confiscate this assembly to move their projects forward [...] thinking in particular of the ordination of married men, the creation of women’s ministries or giving jurisdiction to laypeople."
"[32] On 26 October 2019, in a vote with 128 in favor and 41 against, the synod proposed that married men who are permanent deacons be ordained as priests in the Amazon region,[33] "in extreme situations, and with conditions".
"[37] In the same line Peruvian Cardinal Pedro Barreto, speaking of women religious celebrating the para-liturgies of communion, said he explained to the people that “this is not the Eucharist,” but they tell him, “we prefer the Mass of the sister, to that of the priest who comes and goes rapidly.” He went on explaining that many in the synod “insisted much that it’s necessary to pass from ‘a pastoral [ministry] of the visit’ to ‘a pastoral [ministry] of presence.’” The fact is, he said, “the presence [of the church] among the most distant peoples is through the women religious.”[38] Cardinal Camillo Ruini, the former vicar general of Rome, said that ordaining married men in Amazon was the "wrong choice" and that allowing non-celibate priests would be conforming to the modern-day culture instead of the spirit of the church in serving God.
[40] In November 2019, a group of 100 Catholics accused Francis of indulging in "sacrilegious and superstitious acts" during the synod where two indigenous statues of pregnant women, allegedly depictions of the fertility goddess Pachamama, were featured in a ceremony.