Milan: Pope Francis will install the prime cardinal of Brazil's Amazon region this month in a sign of his concern for the rainforest and its indigenous inhabitants, the man whom he picked for the role said.

On August 27, during a process known as a consistory, Pope Francis will ordain 21 new cardinals, including Steiner. Amazonian illegal mining and logging have increased dramatically under Brazil's far-right President Jair Bolsonaro. His government has also made it easier for more evangelical missionaries to work in the area.

According to Steiner, native people say that evangelical missionaries frequently disparage customary songs, ceremonies, and even their own languages. Steiner said, "it frequently has the effect of uprooting indigenous peoples' culture and their unique way of viewing the world."

He claimed that although the Catholic Church has previously engaged in such behaviour, it now supports the preservation of indigenous cultures. Steiner emphasised the pope's public apology for sexual abuse at now-closed Catholic order-run institutions for indigenous children in Canada last week.

He remarked, "We must make sure the native people never forget their roots and always drink from their springs. In 2019, Francis convened a synod on the Amazon, a meeting for discussion and collaboration. He met with the bishops of the Amazon states of Brazil, as well as local clergy, nuns, and laypeople, in June at the Vatican.

According to Steiner, the pope urged them to interact with indigenous groups, including the forest's original occupants and tribes with whom the rest of Brazil has had little touch.

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