A powerful new report from the Amazon University Program (PUAMA) is calling on Catholics around the world – including here in Western Sydney – to stand in solidarity with the peoples of the Amazon through education, justice and hope.
The recently released PUAMA Report 2024 (covering January 2024 to March 2025) outlines the progress of a bold, location-based model of higher education designed by and for Amazonian communities.
It details the launch of a new tertiary degree in Integral Management of the Amazon Territory, plans for community learning centres, and strong partnerships with local universities, Church networks and Indigenous organisations.
“This report is not just an accountability document,” said PUAMA President and founder Mauricio López Oropeza.
“It is a living memory of a process growing from the roots – shaped by listening to the Amazon and walking with its communities.”
PUAMA is part of the Catholic Church’s efforts to listen more closely to people on the margins and to walk together in mission. It works closely with Church organisations in the Amazon region and is inspired by Pope Francis’ vision for caring for creation and standing with Indigenous communities, as outlined in his letter Querida Amazonia.
While the report acknowledges ongoing challenges, it also shares a message of conviction: that education can be a path of healing, transformation and shared responsibility for our common home.
“The Amazon is not just a place,” the report reads, “but a living organism… a frontier where humanity’s destiny is at stake.
“Higher education cannot remain a distant technical exercise. It must become an act of hope and transformation.”
Audiences in Western Sydney will have a unique opportunity to hear more when Mauricio López Oropeza visits the Diocese of Parramatta this Wednesday 23 July as a special guest speaker in the Bishop Vincent Presents series. Registrations are still open – find out more.
While the report acknowledges challenges such as limited resources and infrastructure, it affirms the urgency and promise of this mission, calling on others to join the “Together for the Amazon, together for the future” campaign – a call to support education as a pathway to justice and ecological conversion.
Mauricio López Oropeza will speak further about PUAMA and its vision during his upcoming visit to Western Sydney as part of the Bishop Vincent Presents series. Hosted by the Diocese of Parramatta, the event will take place tonight, 23 July from 6pm. Visit the Diocese of Parramatta’s website to find out more and register.
