Pope in Peruvian rainforest demands justice for environmental defenders killed for protecting Amazon
The Associated Press reports that on 15 November 2026, Pope Leo XIV, visiting Pucallpa in Peru's Amazon, demanded justice for environmental defenders killed protecting the rainforest, voiced full support for Indigenous peoples resisting logging and illegal gold mining, and blasted the complicity and impunity surrounding sexual violence against Awajún and Wampis schoolgirls in Condorcanqui. On the penultimate day of his South American trip, he called development that exploits the Earth irresponsible, told the crowd along the Ucayali River that 'The cry of the earth and the cry of the poor are inseparable,' and urged a model of growth respecting Indigenous peoples, as AP called the speech one of his most forceful to date.
