Monsignor José Luis Azcona, 84, Bishop Emeritus of the Prelature of
Marajó (Brazil), a defender of the Catholic faith during the heterodox
"Synod for the Amazon" (2019), died of cancer on the morning of
Wednesday 20 November.
He was in palliative care at the Porto Dias Hospital in Belém after suffering from cancer for several months.
This
defender of the Faith was born in Pamplona, Spain, belonged to the
Augustinian Order, and became a missionary and bishop in Brazil.
He was one of the few voices raised in defence of the Catholic faith at the Synod for Amazonia.
The
prelate criticised the Synod's Instrumentum laboris as being completely
out of touch with the reality of the region, contrary to the faith and
putting the Church at risk of schism.
He also warned that the
Pachamama phenomenon is a pagan goddess and therefore her worship is a
demonic sacrilege, leading him to denounce that Francis' Pachamama
worship in the Vatican gardens had scandalised both Catholics and
Protestants.
As a result, in December last year, Francis ordered him to leave the prelature he had pastored for 29 years.
This provoked outrage among the faithful, who threatened not to welcome the new bishop.
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