CV NEWS FEED // The Brazil-based Catholic Agency ACI Digital announced this weekend that the apostolic nuncio to Brazil, Archbishop Giambattista Diquattro, has asked Bishop Emeritus José Luis Azcona of Marajó leave the prelature’s territory before his successor is installed early next year.
In a statement published on the prelature’s Instagram account, Diocesan Administrator Fr. Kazimierz Antoni Skorki said “we did not receive any notification from the Nunciature regarding the reasons for this request or any further details.”
“The Nuncio’s request was only confirmed to us by Bishop José (Azcona) himself,” Skorki wrote. “We hope that the Nunciature will inform us about its decision, so that we can better understand it.”
The prelature of Marajó is part of the Archdiocese of Belém do Pará and covers nine municipalities on the large island that sits at the Atlantic mouth of the Amazon River.
Azcona, a missionary born in Pamplona, Spain, was bishop of Marajó from 1987 to 2016.
As bishop emeritus, Azcona participated in the controversial Amazon Synod in 2019. According to ACI Digital,
he was one of the few conservative voices at the synod, which was marked by demands of ordination of married men and women and the establishment of an Amazonian rite that incorporated indigenous elements into Catholicism.
The bishop criticized the ‘absence of Christ Crucified’ in the Amazon Synod’s working document, drawing attention to the absence of the central element of proclaiming the Gospel.
[Azcona] warned about the lack of mention of sin among indigenous peoples in the working document and defended priestly celibacy, in addition to warning about the scandal and idolatry caused by the use of images of Pachamama in events at the Amazon synod.
According to the local newspaper O Liberal, Azcona has been ordered to leave Marajó before January 13, the installation date of his successor, Bishop José Ionilton Lisboa de Oliveira, SDV, whom Pope Francis appointed in early November.
The new bishop is president of the controversial Pastoral Land Commission (CPT) and is part of the Pan-Amazonian Ecclesial Network (Repam Brasil) created by Pope Francis after the Amazon Synod. De Oliveira is also known for his open support of liberation theology.
Azcona has become a beloved personality both in the Catholic Church and in the broader society of the Island of Marajó. Fr. José Antônio de Vasconcelos Farias, one of the most popular priests on the Island, sent a note to his parishioners on Sunday, December 10:
Dear parishioners, regarding questions regarding the information about Dom José’s departure from the Prelacy of Marajó, I must say that, unfortunately, it is true. Dom José received a statement from the Apostolic Nunciature of Brazil, where he was told that he must leave the Marajó prelature. This is the information I have so far. Let us pray for our eternal shepherd!