PUCALLPA, Peru: Pope Leo XIV visited the Peruvian Amazon on Sunday, demanding justice for Indigenous leaders killed defending their territories and warning that environmental destruction was ravaging both the rainforest and its peoples.
“The blood of these brothers cries out to God and demands justice,” he told missionaries and representatives of Amazonian peoples in the jungle city of Pucallpa.
“The cry of the earth and the cry of the poor are inseparable,” he said.
Many in the crowd mixed traditional tunics and red-and-black face paint with baseball caps to shield themselves from the Amazon heat.
One banner carried by Indigenous communities read: “The world watches, our rainforest disappears.”
When a voice over the loudspeaker asked, “Where is the pope?” the crowd roared back: “In the Amazon!“
As they waited for his arrival, flutes echoed across the waterfront while dancers in sky-blue, red and yellow scarves and black skirts performed for the crowd.
The pope said many Indigenous leaders had been murdered in recent years while defending their lands and denounced what he called the unacceptable neglect suffered by many Indigenous communities.
He said it was unacceptable that many communities lacked access to health care and education because of geographical isolation and institutional neglect.
Leo also cited deforestation, illegal mining and oil pollution as examples of environmental damage threatening both the…