Dear brothers and sisters!

I am grateful to be here with you today in Pucallpa, the “red land” in the heart of the Peruvian Amazon. I thank God and all of you, for I can feel the embrace of your diverse community. The richness of your traits and backgrounds makes this a cheerful gathering, alive with vivid colors. I also thank you for your words and songs, and for sharing today the sorrows and hopes you carry in your hearts. Following in the footsteps of Pope Francis, during his memorable visit to Puerto Maldonado, I come as a shepherd to listen to your stories and to walk alongside you. I wish to strengthen you in faith and hope, supporting you in your search for the justice and peace that this land so greatly needs. The inequalities that wound humanity and disfigure creation have a serious impact on your communities. The years I spent as a missionary and as a bishop in this beloved land of Peru taught me what it means for the Church to walk alongside humanity in order to serve the Lord faithfully. This is essential if we are to become like Jesus Christ and follow him here and now, as we await his return.

As I look upon this beautiful gathering, the words of the Apostolic Exhortation Querida Amazonia come to mind with renewed urgency: “I dream of an Amazon region that fights for the rights of the poor, the original peoples and the least of our brothers and sisters, where their voices can be heard and their dignity advanced” (no. 7). Sadly, the voice that rises today from these places speaks to us of wounds that remain unhealed and have, in some cases, grown worse. The cry of the earth and the cry of the poor are inseparable, exposing patterns of exploitation and economic activity that threaten the balance of creation. Protecting the Amazon rainforest cannot be separated from concern for the people who live there: indeed, integral ecology, social justice and the spiritual life go hand in hand (cf. Laudato Si’, 10).

The first testimony today reminds us that defending one’s home can come at the cost of one’s life. In recent years, many Indigenous leaders have been murdered for defending their territories. The blood of these brothers cries out to God and demands justice. The second testimony highlighted another grave problem: it is unacceptable that in many communities the right to healthcare and education is denied due to geographical isolation or institutional neglect. We are deeply concerned for the vulnerability of so many women, girls and adolescents, and by the suffering of those who experience violence and sexual abuse. Such abuse leaves deep wounds, often compounded by complicity and impunity. Corruption and arbitrary practices undermine the trust in the basic goodness of others. In this situation, the Gospel calls us all the more urgently to personal and communal conversion, offering renewed hope for healing, consolation and reparation.

Dear friends, Pucallpa is a young city, full of energy and hope, yet in urgent need of moral and educational renewal. We must work tirelessly to ensure quality education that includes your languages and that values your ancestral knowledge, while also preparing the younger generations to face the major challenges of our time.

Faced with the tendency to regard this vast region as a source of resources to be exploited, we are called to develop a different model, one inspired by Jesus Christ and his Gospel. In his Encyclical Laudato Si’, Pope Francis warned of the harmful consequences of the dominant technocratic paradigm, which tends to exploit nature and cultures for the sake of immediate economic gain for the benefit of a few (cf. nos. 106-114). We must oppose this model with perseverance and broad vision, looking instead to integral ecology as an expression of the civilization of love: an alternative vision, rooted in the Gospel and respectful of the wisdom of peoples, who recognize, in different languages, that everything in the world is deeply interconnected. You know well the damage caused by indiscriminate deforestation and the pollution of rivers and other waters through illegal mining and oil spills. These are not isolated accidents, but the consequences of the irresponsible exploitation of natural resources, which undermines the very existence of communities. Added to this is the scourge of drug trafficking, which preys on the poverty of young people, luring them with false promises of profit and uprooting them from their own culture.

The Social Doctrine of the Church is constantly developing and helps us read the signs of the times under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Within it, your ancestral knowledge can encounter the rich heritage of the Church’s wisdom, in order to ensure that your rights, acquired over generations, may be protected.

The Church admires the resilience and capacity for new beginnings of the Amazonian peoples. You are witnesses of our Lord Jesus Christ, who rather than coming down from the cross, gives his life for his people. Christ never abandons us. Christ is with you. The Church is with you, and you are her members. We are the body of Christ. The efforts of the Ecclesial Conference of the Amazon and the Pan-Amazonian Ecclesial Network seek increasingly to shape a Church with Amazonian traits. It is true that the laborers seem few: your Vicariate, as large as entire countries, has only twenty-five priests. I express my heartfelt gratitude to the men and women religious and the pastoral leaders of the communities, men and women laity, who with heroic fidelity safeguard the faith in the most remote places. We must support and recognize their ministerial service.

Dear brothers and sisters, you are not alone on your journey. May Mary Most Holy, Mother of the Amazon, always watch over you, your families and your communities, and bless your dreams.

Keep moving forward with courage and hope! May God bless the Amazon.