Hope for a wounded Amazon: “The Pope knows where it hurts us”

Vatican News

Pope Leo XIV’s upcoming apostolic visit to Peru, which will take place over seven days in November and include a stop in Pucallpa, is being eagerly anticipated by the Churches of the Amazon.

For the bishops of Iquitos and Puerto Maldonado, Bishops Miguel Ángel Cadenas and David Martínez de Aguirre, Robert Prevost’s return to the country where he carried out much of his pastoral mission will be much more than a celebration. It will be an opportunity to once again place the wounds of the Amazon, the dignity of its peoples, and the need for a missionary, synodal Church close to the most vulnerable at the heart of the Church’s mission.

Speaking on the program Leo XIV Returns Home, the two prelates agreed that Pucallpa could become a place from which the Pope addresses the entire Pan-Amazon region and, more broadly, the universal Church.

Bishop David Martínez de Aguirre with Pope Leo XIV during the ad limina visit (January 2026)

Pucallpa: A voice for the Amazon

For Bishop Miguel Ángel Cadenas, Apostolic Vicar of Iquitos, the choice of Pucallpa continues the path begun by Pope Francis with his visit to Puerto Maldonado in 2018. He considers it especially significant that Pope Leo knows the Peruvian reality firsthand and has pastoral experience in places such as Chulucanas, Trujillo, and Chiclayo. In his view, the message the Pope will deliver from the Amazon could help shape the direction of the Amazonian Church and the entire Pan-Amazon region in the coming years.

The wounds of the Amazon

One of the major issues Bishop Cadenas hopes will feature in the Pope’s message is the situation of Amazonian peoples and the socio-environmental challenges they face, particularly the consequences of extractive activities.

Reflecting on the Pope’s thoughts in the encyclical Magnifica Humanitas, the prelate warned that Pope Leo’s message from the jungle will resonate in the face of the socio-environmental abuses suffered by Indigenous peoples: “In the Amazon, the exploitation of natural resources is completely unjust. This will have a strong impact on the message the Pope may deliver about human dignity and care for creation,” Bishop Cadenas said.

From Pucallpa, he added, Pope Leo will be able to draw the attention of all humanity to a reality marked by the vulnerability of Indigenous communities, environmental degradation, and the social consequences of extractive activities that do not always ensure justice for local populations.

The Apostolic Vicar of Iquitos, Bishop Miguel Ángel Cadenas

A Pope who knows Peru

For both bishops, the fact that Pope Leo knows Peru from personal experience will give particular strength to his message. Bishop Cadenas highlighted the Pope’s missionary experience and his sensitivity toward ordinary people and places where the Gospel needs to be proclaimed.

Bishops David Martínez de Aguirre, Apostolic Vicar of Puerto Maldonado, also recalled his closeness to Prevost when he was bishop of Chiclayo and emphasized that he knows the realities of Peru’s coast, highlands, and jungle.

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“He will speak to us where he knows it will do us good, where it hurts us; he knows what word we need,” Bishop Martínez de Aguirre said.

From Puerto Maldonado to Pucallpa: Walking together

Bishop Martínez de Aguirre sees the papal visit as a continuation of the process begun by Pope Francis in Puerto Maldonado, where the path toward the Synod for the Amazon began symbolically. That process later contributed to a broader ecclesial renewal connected to the Synod on Synodality.

For the bishop, synodality means recovering an essential dimension of the Church: walking together, listening, and discerning as a community.

“The synodality that Popes Francis and Leo XIV remind us of is not the invention of something new: it is an attempt to recover what is most genuine about the Church,” he said. “And Pope Leo, in his way of being and acting—first as a missionary, as an Augustinian, as superior of the Augustinians, then as bishop of Chiclayo, and later when he served as prefect in Rome—has that style of a synodal Church,” the prelate explained.

Unity and mission

Bishop Martínez de Aguirre also identified two key aspects of Pope Leo’s spirituality: unity and mission. His Augustinian formation, the bisop explained, is deeply rooted in community life and communion. But that unity must also translate into a Church capable of reaching out to those who suffer.

The Pope’s missionary journey, he added, reflects precisely this willingness to leave one’s homeland to encounter others and proclaim the Gospel. Hence his hope that the visit will encourage the Peruvian Church to become a Church “on the way out,” close to those living on the peripheries.

A visit that should bring about conversion

The two bishops agree that the papal visit should not be reduced to large celebrations. For Bishop Cadenas, the Pope’s arrival should lead Peruvian Catholics to examine how they live their faith and their commitment to the most vulnerable.

“Great joy for all of Peru, but let us not forget that he is the representative of Jesus who comes to visit us and asks us to radically change our way of life so that we may draw closer to the Gospel of Jesus,” he urged. This conversion, Bishop Cadenas said, must also have social and political consequences, particularly in defending those living in poverty and vulnerability.

For Bishop Martínez de Aguirre, preparing for the visit can likewise be an opportunity to revitalize parishes, dioceses, religious congregations, and apostolic groups. “Let us all get moving, let us set out on the journey,” he encouraged, calling for renewed energy in the life of the Church.

A new starting point for the Amazon

Pope Leo XIV’s arrival in Pucallpa is therefore presented as much more than a stop on an apostolic journey. For the Amazonian bishops, it is an opportunity for the universal Church to once again turn its attention to a region of immense cultural and spiritual richness, but also one marked by deep social and environmental wounds. 

From Puerto Maldonado to Pucallpa, the journey begun by Pope Francis and now taken up by Pope Leo continues: listening to the Amazon, acknowledging its wounds, defending the dignity of its peoples, and making its challenges a concern for the entire Church.

The real challenge, the bishops conclude, will not simply be to hear what the Pope has to say, but to see what the Peruvian Church does after hearing him. If the visit succeeds in strengthening the defense of Indigenous peoples, care for creation, mission, and social justice, Pucallpa could become a new starting point for the entire Amazon.