When the Amazon suffers, the world suffers.

Canadians can’t extinguish the thousands of forest fires raging across the Amazon region but the devastation should become a call for Catholics to forge an alliance with the Indigenous people of the Amazon, says the Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace.

LIMA, Peru -- Wildfires raging in Bolivia and Brazil underscore the urgency of the Synod of Bishops for the Amazon that Pope Francis has called for October, said Bishop Eugenio Coter of the apostolic vicariate of Pando in northern Bolivia.

VATICAN CITY -- Describing the Amazon rainforest as "vital for our planet," Pope Francis joined the regions bishops in praying for action to extinguish the massive fires burning there.