A senior Vatican official and two bishops participated in an Andean ritual dedicated to Pachamama during a Church-sponsored conference in Cusco, Peru—presented by Vatican News as part of preparations for Pope Leo XIV’s upcoming visit. The ceremony included cocoa leaves, food offerings, guided breathing exercises, and an altar on the ground dedicated to Mother Earth, with no apparent Catholic prayer or blessing invoked.
Monsignor Jordi Bertomeu, Bishop Lizardo Estrada Herrera, and Bishop Miguel Ángel Cárdenas actively participated—placing cocoa leaves among the offerings rather than simply observing. The incident echoes previous Pachamama controversies: Pope Francis’s 2019 Vatican Gardens ceremony and then-Father Robert Prevost’s participation in a 1995 ritual. The pattern is clear. The Vatican continues to engage in rituals that blur the line between Catholic worship and indigenous religious practices. The faithful are left to wonder what this signals about the direction of the Church under Pope Leo XIV.
