00:00Pope Leo XIV has arrived in Peru bringing renewed attentions to the
00:04Catholic Church role in the country's social and spiritual life. To discuss the
00:09significance of this apostolic visit and the expectations of the Peruvian
00:14faithful, we are joined by Catholic priest Michael Garnett Johnson. Welcome
00:19to from the south priest. Well how do you think this papal visit will renew the faith
00:31and commitment of the Peruvian church in the current context? Yes, obviously we're
00:39keeping, I mean here in the north of the country the place has gone quite mad with
00:46people flocking down to the coast in order to see him and take part in this visit.
00:57And what do you think is the central message that Pope Leo is leaving for the
01:04priestess, young people and family in South America?
01:09Well it's already been very clear in Uruguay and in the Argentanian
01:161929, obviously faith in God, but his strength, he's very insistent on the importance of humanity,
01:31of the human being. This of course is another message of his encyclical, which he published a few, a couple
01:43of months ago,
01:43of the great importance of the human being, nobody should be left out, and the human
01:51beings are far more important than the economy or anything like that.
01:56Peru is a country with deep-rooted traditions such as the Señor de los Milagros, the
02:04story of the miracles. How does Pope Leo XIV's visions related to the popular piety of the
02:12Peruvian people? Well, you've got to remember he has worked here as a missionary when he was a young
02:22priest, and then was a bishop for 10 years here. So, he's very much, shall we say, in
02:33synteny, or sympathy with the traditions of the country, the religious traditions, which are very marked. I mean, all, here
02:47I'm living up in the Sira, and every town has its patron saint, and the
02:52kind, and then, with all the ceremonies, very often, going back to pre-Inca times, which are still executed here,
03:04up in the
03:04north. And also, I think, down in the south. I don't know the south as well, because I live up
03:11here in the north. But I think he's very
03:15much in touch with what we might call popular religion, religiosidad popular.
03:26And given the importance that the church places on the Amazon, what are your expectations regarding the impact of Pope's
03:36visit on the defense of the indigenous communities?
03:42Well, one hope is succeeding what Pope Francis did with regards to the Amazon. There's, one might say, two or
03:56three very important
03:57things. In the first place, a respect for the Amazon people. Here, we've got a large number of tribes, Amazon
04:10tribes, and
04:11when one asks how many languages are spoken in this country, it's something like 40. Because the Amazon tribes, every
04:20tribe has its own language. So it's
04:22terribly important to respect this. And linked with this is the respect for the Amazon itself, for the trees, to
04:33stop this business of
04:35cutting down trees, because the Amazon is one of the lungs of the planet.
04:43And at a time of social and political tensions in the region, how can this message of Pope Leo XIV
04:50serves as a bridge to reconciliation for the Peruvian society?
04:56Well, obviously, we are a very divided country. There's no doubt about that. The last presidential elections virtually
05:10came out 50-50 for the winner, President Keiko Fujimori, and for her oppositor.
05:21Well, one of the things that we hope from this government, we need from this government, is to try to
05:30put a stop to
05:31a lot of the social divisions and the underlying violence, which is now characteristic of most of the large cities.
05:42Up here, where I live, in Cajamarca, which is a very historic city, fortunately, we are reasonably peaceful. But there
05:54is a lot of poverty.
05:57This region is considered one of the poorest in the country. And obviously, whereas Pope Leo has insisted that people
06:09are more important than economy,
06:12that at the same time, he has said the economy has got to be really in service of the people,
06:18and to try to ensure there's far more equality between the different levels of society. There's too much unemployment,
06:28there are too many people on the margins of society, too many people excluded. And this has got, well, we've
06:37really got to stop this.
06:40It's obviously not going to be easy.
06:45Well, please, Michael, thank you very much for joining us here in From the South.
06:52Yeah, very many thanks for enabling me to say a word or two. And I hope what I've said be
07:01of some use to what you're broadcasting.
07:04Thank you very much.
