杏MAP导航

By Linda Bordoni

杏MAP导航 Francis arrived in Peru鈥檚 capital city Lima on Thursday evening beginning the second leg of an apostolic visit that is also scheduled to take him to the Amazon city of Puerto Maldonado and  to the northern coastal city of Trujillo.

The 杏MAP导航 will be in Peru from 18 to 21. This is the third papal journey to the nation after Saint 杏MAP导航 John Paul II who visited the nation twice, in 1985 and 1988.

The Amazon climate of Puerto Maldonado has impacted the usual protocol a papal visit is tied to with the official courtesy visit to Peru鈥檚 President taking place late Friday afternoon to allow him to travel to Puerto Maldonado in the morning thus avoiding tropical afternoon downpours.

Puerto Maldonado gateway to Peruvian Amazon

In Puerto Maldonado, the gateway to the Peruvian Amazon which makes up some 60% of the nation鈥檚 territory, 杏MAP导航 Francis will hold a highly anticipated meeting with some 4000 representatives of different indigenous peoples.

During the meeting 鈥� which takes place within the 鈥�Laudato Sì鈥� framework, Francis鈥檚 鈥渙n the care of our common home鈥� will be presented in some of the indigenous languages.

Columban Fr. Peter Hughes, a member of the Executive Committee of the Pan-Amazonian Church Network 鈥� REPAM - spoke to Cristiane Murray, the Vatican News correspondent in Puerto Maldonado about the significance of  杏MAP导航 Francis鈥� visit to Peru.

Two main themes

Father Hughes reflected on the importance and on the meaning of this visit for the nation and for the world pinpointing two themes in particular: the 杏MAP导航鈥檚 closeness to the marginalized and to the poor, and the fact that he will be meeting with representatives of many indigenous groups in the Amazon region highlighting his concern for the rights of indigenous peoples and for the plight of the rainforest and the need to care for 鈥渙ur common home鈥�. 

Peru, Hughes explained, is suffering from huge problems of poverty and marginalization. It鈥檚 a multicultural multi ethnic society, there are 42 languages spoken in the country (many in the Amazon region) as well as two major indigenous languages, and many components of its society do not have access even to basic services.

杏MAP导航's affinity to major Peruvian concerns

鈥淚 think the 杏MAP导航 has a particular affinity with a county like Peru, not only because he is Latin American but because he is a Latin American 杏MAP导航 who has been deeply involved with the whole process of reform fueled by the Conference of Medellin after Vatican 2鈥� he said.

Hughes said Francis is a very good expression and exponent of the whole reform period in the Latin American Church, having been himself an important agent in the Church in this period (Bergoglio played a major role in drawing up the Aparecida document).

鈥淗e shares a particularly profound insight from the heart of the Gospel that God鈥檚 wish for people is that they are included in life and that they are not supposed to be marginalized for political, economic or cultural reasons鈥� he said.

He said his affinity with the plight of the poor gives him a strong connection to the desperateness of the current situation.

鈥淧eruvians are waiting for him for very deep spiritual reasons鈥� he said.   

Indigenous peoples, the Amazon and 'Laudato Sì'

The second reason this visit is so significant, Hughes continues, is to do with the fact that Francis is arriving in the Amazon region and he will be meeting representatives of many indigenous groups in the town of Maldonado.

鈥淗ere, Fr. Hughes said, there is a direct connection between his visit and his encyclical Laudato Sì鈥�.

Hughes described the Amazon as the place where the common home of humanity and of the world is perhaps best expressed.

He said the destruction and the depredation of the Amazon is terrible and is taking place at an increasingly accelerated rate.

The tragic poignancy of Puerto Maldonado

He explained that in the town of Puerto Maldonado the great trans-oceanic highway that connects the Amazon to the Pacific coast passes through and that this is the subject of much debate because of all the scandals and corruption connected to its construction.

鈥淎 major highway is always considered as progress鈥� he said, but it must not be ignored that it also brings with it a lot of problems: 鈥淭here are human, social and political consideration to be made鈥�.

Puerto Maldonado, he continued, is also a center of major drug-trafficking and human trafficking of young women for prostitution; it鈥檚 where small boys are exploited as workers in the gold mines with no consideration for their rights or their health; it鈥檚 where the major problems of the Amazon take place like deforestation and the destruction of land because of how the extractive industries operate鈥�.

He spoke of the taking of lands and livelihoods from the indigenous peoples who have been connected to this land for millennia and of how they are being used for multinational agri-business for production with no regard for the consequences this will have on biodiversity, water access and the rotation that the lands need.

Hughes pointed out that the question of climate is 鈥榠n question鈥� in the Amazon: 鈥渋f the Amazon and the Congo, the two major river basins of the world continue to be destroyed, 20% of drinking water that is available to people in the world will be gone; 20% of the oxygen that people in the world need to breathe will be gone. These are huge levels of destruction that we don鈥檛 hear about every day and these are exactly the concerns Francis has been writing about in Laudato Sì鈥�.

Francis will be speaking to the whole human family

So, Hughes concluded,  he won鈥檛 be speaking just to the people of the Amazon but to the world, to the human family across the globe, to Christians, Catholics, believers and non-believers and he will be 鈥渄rawing a line and shining a light to alert us all about the need to change, on every level; that life on earth has to be respected and that we have to become serious about the Paris Climate Treaty and about how to defend the world, its beauty, its resources and its climate from destruction鈥�.