
'Leo will follow Francis.' Amazon Catholics hope the new pope will protect the rain forest
The bishop sat quietly near the front row, hands folded, listening as Indigenous leaders and church workers spoke about the threats to Peru's northern forests, a part of the Amazon rain forest. It was 2016, a year after Laudato Si, Pope Francis' encyclical on the environment.
When he was up to speak, the bishop didn't preach though he was in his city of Chiclayo as host of a regional gathering. Instead, he reflected on things he had seen.
'It's a very important encyclical,' he said. 'It also represents something new in terms of this explicit expression of the church's concern for all of creation.'
That bishop, Robert Prevost, is now Pope Leo XIV.
'He was always very welcoming, very close to the people,' Laura Vargas, secretary of the Interreligious Council of Peru, who helped organize the event, recalled in a phone interview with The Associated Press.
'He had no problem saying yes when we proposed it — he was genuinely interested in social pastoral work.'
Since then, Prevost deepened his ties with interfaith environmental networks like the Interfaith Rainforest Initiative and Indigenous organizations such as AIDESEP, which place forest protection and rights at the center of Church concern.
Such credentials have brought hope to clergymen and faithful in the Amazon region, a vast area with 48 million residents and 6.7 million square kilometers (2.6 million square miles) in South America. They see Chicago-born Prevost, who spent about two decades in Peru's countryside, as a pontiff who protect the region and fight against climate change.
NAVIGATING THE AMAZON
Many Catholics have said they believe Prevost's experience as bishop of Chiclayo, a city of 630,000 residents in Northern Peru and not too far from the Amazon, was one of the key reasons he was chosen. They also said the pontiff's hands-on experience in an impoverished area far from major cities could also serve him well in dealing with the Amazon and navigating its challenges.
The Amazon is a key regulator of the climate, as its dense forests absorb carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas that when released into the atmosphere heats the planet. But many parts of the Amazon are under threat from a wide range of illegal activities: farmers clearing trees to raise cows, gold miners dredging rivers and destroying local ecosystems and land-grabbers seizing territories. Wildfires and droughts, exacerbated by climate change, have also hit Amazon communities hard in recent years.
Prevost is well acquainted with these issues, having presided over the Pontifical Commission for Latin America, which helped him bond with colleagues of the nine countries touched by the Amazon. Many of them are among the 105 bishops of an organization he openly supports, the Pan-Amazonian Ecclesial Network, a Catholic Church network focused on the Amazon region.
'I spoke to him a number times about the Amazon and the environment. He doesn't need to be convinced of its importance,' said Cardinal Pedro Barreto, the president of the network, who has known Prevost since he became the bishop of Chiclayo in 2015.
Brazilian Friar Paulo Xavier agrees.
'Leo will follow Francis; we are going forward with environment protection," Xavier said. 'The Holy Spirit has acted on our behalf.'
Xavier is based in Manaus, a city of 2 million residents in the Amazon which received its first-ever cardinal appointed by Francis in 2022: the now 74-year-old archbishop Leonardo Steiner, an enthusiast of Laudato Si.
Steiner, Xavier and the Manaus archdiocese have invested to get the encyclical into the hands of locals, even when that means jumping on small, motorized canoes through the brown waters of the Negro River to reach isolated villages in journeys that can last days on a boat.
POPE FOR ACTION
In November 2024, the Vatican News reported that Prevost called for more action to tackle climate change and protect the environment during a seminar in Rome. He cited efforts the Vatican has taken such as installing solar panels and electric vehicles.
On the social media platform X, Prevost has reposted messages about protecting the environment. One message he reposted on April 1, 2017, expressed concern about emissions of carbon dioxide, a planet-warming gas, during President Donald Trump's his first term.
Laura Vicuña, an Indigenous woman of the Kariri people and the vice president of the Ecclesial Conference of the Amazon Region, said in a letter published on social media that she hopes the pope will be an ally in the fight against climate change. The conference was created by Francis in 2020 to promote discussion between clergymen and laypeople.
'From our dear Amazon, we plead with you to be our ally in the defense of what is the most sacred for us; life, land and rights,' Vicuña wrote.
Indigenous peoples like Vicuña's Kariri are often regarded as key protectors of the Amazon, but for many years they have been forced out of their lands by criminals, deforestation and famine, as seen in the Yanomami lands in Northern Brazil in 2023.
Spaniard Luis Ventura, the executive-secretary of Brazil's Indigenous Missionary Council, said he prays for the new pope to keep his eyes close to the Amazon, with a special attention to the Indigenous. Founded in 1972, the council had rare occasions to meet with pontiffs until Francis rose in 2013. Its members hope Leo doesn't change that.
'Leo XIV will have a big impact on the Amazon," said Ventura. 'His life was always with the people in Peru, and that allows us to think the church will be deep into the territory.'
CLIMATE URGENCY
Francis showed great interest in the Amazon during his pontificate. Four years after Laudato Si, he hosted the Amazon Synod, which sought 'new Paths for the Church and for an integral ecology.'
Rose Bertoldo, one of the secretaries of the Manaus archdiocese, said she is hopeful for the region's future under Leo, given it would build on Francis' interest. She added the new pontiff will have a chance to visit Brazil, the nation with the most Catholics in the world, during this year's U.N. climate summit, known as COP30, in the Amazonian city of Belem in November.
'We know that the urgencies and the challenges in the Amazon will be bigger because of the global political context of division. We need him at COP,' Bertoldo said.
Irish priest Peter Hughes, who spent most of his life in Peru, met Prevost shortly after he arrived in the Andean nation in 1985. They quickly became friends, and would see each other when the bishop of Chiclayo was in the capital Lima.
'Back then, (Prevost) was worried about extractivism in the Amazon and the effect it had on the poor," said Hughes, referring to the new pontiff. 'Now it is a much more complex world, the urgency is evident.'
____ Grattan reported from Belfast, Northern Ireland. Associated Press writer Isabella O'Malley contributed from Philadelphia.
___
The Associated Press' climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP's standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


The Independent
2 hours ago
- The Independent
Worker who leaked plans to build golf courses in Florida parks files whistleblower suit
A former worker who leaked information about plans by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis ' administration to build golf courses and hotels in Florida state parks has filed a whistleblower lawsuit. James Gaddis alleges that the Florida Department of Environmental Protection retaliated against him for sharing details of the proposals, which caused bipartisan outrage and sparked protests. Ultimately the plans were scuttled. A spokesperson for the department declined to comment, saying the agency does not do so with pending litigation. Gaddis, who was a consultant in DEP's Office of Park Planning, says he was directed to draw up 'secret maps' to build golf courses, hotels and pickleball courts in nine parks. Park staffers were ordered not to talk to any colleagues about the proposals, which in Gaddis' view amounted to destroying 'globally significant' environments. The experience felt like 'mapping out a future crime scene,' according to the lawsuit, which was filed in Leon County. Gaddis copied documents onto a flash drive and shared it with an unnamed intermediary, the lawsuit says, and the next day the Tampa Bay Times wrote about the plans. Gaddis says he was called into a meeting by a supervisor and asked if he shared the documents, which he admitted to. He was put on administrative leave and later fired, and the suit says that amounted to disparate treatment and retaliation. The complaint seeks damages of at least $100,000. The Republican-dominated state Legislature has since passed a bill banning development in state parks, and DeSantis signed it into law. Gaddis started an online fundraiser to help cover expenses, with an initial goal of $10,000. As of June 11, it had brought in more than $258,000. ___ Kate Payne is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.


Reuters
2 hours ago
- Reuters
Argentina ban on former president Kirchner reshapes political landscape
BUENOS AIRES, June 11 (Reuters) - Argentina's supreme court has effectively banned former president Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner from government, a move that poses both a challenge and an opportunity for the opposition Peronist party ahead of crunch midterm elections this year. The court upheld a six-year jail term against Kirchner for graft on Tuesday, barring one of the country's most high-profile politicians from holding public office. In the short-term, the decision may enable libertarian President Javier Milei to cement his power base in the October midterm vote, but over the long run it could help revamp the Peronist movement, which was Argentina's most powerful political bloc for decades before being ousted by outsider Milei in 2023. Kirchner, a two-term president from 2007-2015 and a senator and vice president from 2019-2023, faces the possibility of jail time. She will likely be able to push for house arrest because of her age, 72, and the court will decide within five working days whether to grant that request. But she will not be able to run as a legislative candidate in the midterm elections in the province of Buenos Aires, a Peronist stronghold, as she had planned. Nonetheless, the leftist Kirchner, the president and one of the leaders of the Peronist party, may still be able to pull political strings given her strong popular support, especially if she remains out of jail. "Cristina will continue her political career; that's why she's choosing to stay in Buenos Aires, in her department of San José," a source close to the former president told Reuters. Kirchner did not respond to a Reuters interview request. Peronists are divided over whether her political ban will help the movement reinvent itself or if she will cast an even longer shadow than before, hurting up-and-comers like Buenos Aires governor Axel Kicillof who have clashed with her. "This is detrimental to the renewal, because she's now the martyred leader. She's the center of attention," said a source from Kicillof's Buenos Aires provincial government. Kirchner still enjoys significant popular support from close to 30% of the population, polls show, although she is highly divisive - in part due to the corruption cases against her - and would likely struggle to win election. Analysts said that the court ruling could ultimately allow for the party's modernization, at a time some of its leaders, like Kicillof, claim Peronism as a movement is being banished. "For Peronism, it represents the possibility of renewal. Kicillof is playing the victim and, at the same time, becoming independent," said political scientist Andrés Malamud. The ban against Kirchner will take some of the sting out of her bitter rivalry with Milei, but a new more moderate challenger from the Peronist left could hurt the Argentine president if he slips up. "If Milei can keep the economy steady, nothing will happen, but if this doesn't work, it will probably strengthen Kicillof," said analyst Mariel Fornoni from consultancy Management & Fit. The latest polls showed a tie in the important province of Buenos Aires between Milei's La Libertad Avanza and the Peronist opposition for the midterm elections, according to data from the Electoral Observatory. Victory would not give the ruling party a majority in either chamber of Argentina's Congress, but a larger number of legislators would make it easier for the government to approve privatizations of public companies and tax and labor reforms. "Cristina's conviction gives the government a campaign argument it didn't have. Now it won't need to discuss the economic model," said the Buenos Aires government source.


The Guardian
4 hours ago
- The Guardian
Trump's EPA announces major rollbacks to power plant pollution limits
US power plants will be allowed to pollute nearby communities and the wider world with more unhealthy air toxins and an unlimited amount of planet-heating gases under new regulatory rollbacks proposed by Donald Trump's administration, experts warned. The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) unveiled a plan on Wednesday that would repeal a landmark climate rule that aims to mostly eliminate greenhouse gases from power plants by the 2030s and would, separately, weaken another regulation that restricts power plants' release of hazardous air pollutants such as mercury. 'We choose to both protect the environment and grow the economy,' said Lee Zeldin, administrator of the EPA, at an event to announce the plans. He said the rollbacks will save households money while also defying what he called 'the climate change cult'. The climate rule has 'saddled our critical power sector with expensive, unreasonable and burdensome regulations', Zeldin said. 'American energy suffered and Americans who rely on reliable, affordable energy suffered. The good news is those days are over.' The EPA's proposals will go out for public comment and are likely to face legal challenges. They target a rule crafted last year by the Biden administration to phase out emissions from electricity-producing fossil fuel plants, which are responsible for around a quarter of US greenhouse gases, and a regulation called the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards, which Biden toughened in 2023 to slash harmful pollution suffered by communities. These rollbacks come despite overwhelming scientific evidence of the dire consequences of the worsening climate crisis and the harm caused by pollutants such as mercury, which can seep into water, soils and the air and has been linked to neurological damage in young children as well as heart, lung and immune system ailments in adults. Coal-fired power plants cause nearly half of all mercury emissions in the US, according to the EPA. More than 200 health experts wrote to the EPA on Wednesday warning the moves 'would lead to the biggest pollution increases in decades and is a blatant give-away to polluters'. The experts added the reversals are 'a direct contradiction to the Environmental Protection Agency's mission of protecting public health and the environment'. Trump, however, has vowed to boost fossil fuel production at all costs, having reaped record donations from the oil and gas industry during his election campaign. At Wednesday's EPA event, Zeldin was joined by eight lawmakers, all Republicans – Kevin Cramer, Troy Balderson, Brett Guthrie, Carol Miller, Dan Meuser, Rob Bresnahan, Michael Rulli and Riley Moore – who have collectively received more than $3m from fossil fuel donors in their own election campaigns, a Guardian analysis of the OpenSecrets database shows. Bresnahan, a Pennsylvania representative, holds personal financial interests in more than 20 fossil fuel companies. In justifying the deletion of the Biden climate plan, which the EPA previously estimated would deliver $370bn in net benefits, Zeldin has claimed that US power plants only produce a small and declining fraction of the world's emissions. This is despite the fact that if these power plants were a country, it would be the sixth-largest emitter on the planet. Gina McCarthy, who was EPA administrator under Barack Obama, said that Zeldin's 'dismantling of our nation's protections from power plant pollution is absolutely illogical and indefensible. It's a purely political play that goes against decades of science and policy review.' 'By giving a green light to more pollution, his legacy will forever be someone who does the bidding of the fossil fuel industry at the expense of our health,' she added. 'Everyone will be affected by his actions, but the most vulnerable among us, our kids and grandkids, will suffer the most.' The EPA has embarked upon a wide-ranging blitz upon environmental regulations since Trump became president, setting about removing or loosening clean air and water rules that, collectively, were on track to save 200,000 American lives in the decades ahead. Trump, who has adopted the mantra of 'drill, baby, drill', has claimed unhindered fossil fuel production will bring down energy costs, although he has sought to hobble clean energy such as solar and wind, which are typically the cheapest sources of new electricity generation. The rollbacks follow the second-hottest May on record globally, and a record-hot 2024 that unleashed a stunning number of climate-driven disasters and six weeks of extra-dangerously hot days. Experts have warned that sea level rise is on track to cause 'catastrophic inland migration', including to millions of Americans, with climate shocks set to wipe 50% from global GDP by the end of this century. 'It's completely reprehensible that Donald Trump would seek to roll back these lifesaving standards and do more harm to the American people and our planet just to earn some brownie points with the fossil fuel industry,' said Patrick Drupp, climate policy director at the Sierra Club. 'This administration is transparently trading American lives for campaign dollars and the support of fossil fuel companies, and Americans ought to be disgusted and outraged that their government has launched an assault on our health and our future.'