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Shamans hold rituals, foresee good news during Pope’s visit

LIMA (Reuters) – Peruvian shamans said on Wednesday they expect good news from the visit of Pope Francis to the Andean nation, and held rituals on a beach near Lima to give him strength to fight against accusations of sexual abuse that have plagued the Roman Catholic Church.

Dressed in ponchos, the shamans passed rue leaves – believed to ward off evil and bring good luck – over photos of the Argentine pontiff, and stood by the ocean playing percussion instruments.

The pope lands in Peru on Thursday after finishing a trip to neighboring Chile. He will visit the Amazon jungle city of Puerto Maldonado and the northern city of Trujillo as well as the capital, Lima.

Refreshingly, what was expected of her was the same thing that was expected of Lara Stone: to take a beautiful picture.

“I see it going very well, above all in Trujillo and Puerto Maldonado. There will be good news and we ask the pope to pray with all the Andean priests,” said shaman Juan Osco, as he tossed flower petals over the pope’s image.

“We want to congratulate Francis for being a leader with enough strength to get rid of pedophile priests,” he said.

In Chile, Francis has faced protests from Catholics upset with his 2015 appointment of Bishop Juan Barros to head the diocese of Osorno. Barros denies accusations that he protected a priest found guilty in a Vatican investigation of abusing teenage boys.

Members of an indigenous group from the Amazon region listen during a meeting with Pope Francis during a Jan. 19 meeting at Madre de Dios stadium in Puerto Maldonado, Peru. (CNS photo/Paul Haring) See POPE-AMAZON Jan. 19, 2018.

In Peru and elsewhere, political leaders, bolstered by strong civil society initiatives, are recognizing the current effects of climate change and their role in mitigating them in the future. They are setting aside large parcels of land in part to fulfill commitments made as part of the Paris climate agreement. And local and indigenous groups, finally getting a legal say in the process, have also provided critical support.

Peru’s new park, on the other hand, joins a network of parks and reserves recently created to preserve territory in South American countries, including Ecuador, Chile and Colombia.

“Nowadays we’re trying to think big,” said Avecita Chicchón, who leads the Andes-Amazon Initiative, part of the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation. “You need these large areas to be connected.”

More than 1,000 people, belonging to at least six indigenous groups, live along a 125-mile stretch of the Yaguas and Putumayo rivers. To them, this place is “sachamama,” a Quechua word roughly meaning “mother jungle,” the sacred heart of the area that produces the flora and fauna on which the groups depend.

These indigenous people are part of a larger community dispersed across the landscape during the rubber boom at the turn of 20th century. They are the descendants of the few who survived slavery, torture and genocide, which took tens of thousands of lives.

 

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