Pope to indigenous: Amazon is 'heart of the church'

[Judi Lynn]

Nicole Winfield and Christine Armario, Associated Press
Updated 6:33 pm, Friday, January 19, 2018

PUERTO MALDONADO, Peru (AP) — From deep in the scorching Amazon rainforest, Pope Francis demanded Friday that corporations stop their relentless extraction of timber, gas and gold from God's "holy ground," and called on governments to recognize the indigenous peoples living there as the primary forces in determining its future.

Bare-chested and tattooed native families, many sporting feathered and beaded headgear, interrupted Francis repeatedly with applause, wailing horns and beating drums as history's first Latin American pope declared the Amazon and its indigenous peoples the "heart of the church."

In the highlight of his weeklong trip to Chile and Peru, Francis warned that the Amazon people are now more threatened than ever before, and called for a three-fold defense of their life, their land and their cultures.

"You are a living memory of the mission that God has entrusted to us all: the protection of our common home," the pope said.

More:
http://www.chron.com/news/world/article/Peru-s-indigenous-await-Pope-Francis-in-scorching-12509451.php#photo-14911322