By the Most Rev. Martin Laliberté, P.M.É., Bishop of Trois-Rivières, Member of the National Council
This year’s Advent stories draw on experiences that members of the Development and Peace ― Caritas Canada delegation had in Brazil during the COP30 climate summit in November 2025.
Advent is a time of watching and waiting. Of course, there is the anticipation of Christmas, when we commemorate Emmanuel, God among us, who came to announce and inaugurate the Kingdom of God, his Father and our Father. This is what the Gospel according to Matthew proclaims during the celebration of the fourth Sunday of Advent:
“All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: ‘Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel,’ which means ‘God is with us.’”
― Matthew 1:22-23
We also watch because this God among us visits us every day in our daily lives.
Finally, we await his return, his coming, so that this Kingdom may be fully realized.
However, we must not live this time of waiting and watching passively. This Kingdom of the Father inaugurated by Christ will become a reality to the extent that we commit ourselves concretely to bringing it about. While we await its full realization, it is already in seed form and growing in our world today.
This is what I witnessed during COP30 in Belém, Brazil. There, I met women and men who are wholeheartedly committed to transforming unjust structures by standing alongside the most vulnerable people.
I am thinking here of the members of the Movimento dos Atingidos por Barragens who, as the Portuguese name suggests, are fighting for the rights of people affected by dam construction.
I can still see the faces of representatives from the social organization Justiça nos Trilhos (Justice on the Rails; see website available in English), partners of Development and Peace – Caritas Canada, who came to speak to us emotionally about the experiences of communities impacted by the uncontrolled exploitation of mining and industrial agriculture in the Carajás region of northern Brazil.
I can still feel not only the heat of the sun, which was nearly 40 degrees Celsius, but also the human warmth and fraternity that united the 70,000 people who took part in the solidarity march through the streets of Belém on November 15.
Finally, I share in the courage, boldness and prophetic spirit of a Church that is engaged on the ground, reaching out, walking with the people, and sharing their struggles for rights, justice and the defence of our Common Home.
Although COP30 did not achieve hoped-for results at the level of the major decision-makers, what I experienced there, with the social movements and members of the Church who were there, allowed me to see that the Kingdom of God is in its infancy and that through all those who are committed to transforming the world, God is truly with us, as the Gospel proclaims.