Léon XIV celebrates an Amazonian Mass in Pucallpa, Peru
By the AFREEQUE newsroom, based on Fides News Agency
Pope Léon XIV will preside over a Mass on Sunday in Pucallpa, in the Peruvian Amazon, using liturgical objects inspired by Shipibo art. According to the Fides agency, the local Church sees the visit as a historic event and an opportunity to bring the Christian faith to life within the culture of Amazonian peoples.
Pope Léon XIV will celebrate a Eucharistic Mass in Pucallpa, in the Peruvian Amazon, on Sunday 15 November. The chalice, shaped like a traditional Amazonian vessel, the paten evoking the region’s rivers and vestments inspired by Shipibo art will accompany the celebration, according to the Fides agency.
During the day, the Pope will meet Amazonian peoples and missionaries at 3pm at the Malecón Puerto Callao in Yarinacocha, a space for dialogue that can hold 3,000 people. Father Lucas Santa, general coordinator of the papal visit to Pucallpa, said this meeting will not be a liturgical celebration. The Mass will be held at the Villa Deportiva Regional de Ucayali, known as 'La Videnita', in the Manantay district, which can accommodate 70,000 people.
The local Church is preparing the visit as a historic event. About one hundred people take part in the coordination meetings, and around 5,000 pilgrims from Amazonian communities are expected. Bishop Augusto Martín Quijano Rodríguez, Apostolic Vicar of Pucallpa, acknowledges that challenges remain, notably in feeding these pilgrims.
This Peruvian stage follows the Pope’s visit to Argentina, which ended on 11 November. The Pope had also met six victims of abuse in Peru on 13 November, a gesture that forms part of the same approach.
