Cardinal Pedro Ricardo Barreto Jimeno (third from left), with Canadian Jesuits International staff.
On Monday, June 9, Canadian Jesuits International (CJI) staff had the honour of welcoming Cardinal Pedro Ricardo Barreto Jimeno, S.J., to its office in Toronto.
Cardinal Barreto — the Emeritus Metropolitan Archbishop of Huancayo (Peru), President of the Episcopal Conference of the Amazon, and close collaborator of Pope Francis on Laudato Sí — stopped by on his way to the G7 Jubilee People’s Forum scheduled June 12-15 in Calgary.
During his visit, Cardinal Barreto emphasized the urgent need to support Indigenous peoples, and highlighted the late Pope Francis’s message that Indigenous peoples are “the heart of the church,” and the guardians of nature.
The Cardinal highlighted leadership of Indigenous women in the church, citing Patricia Gualinga, a Kichwa leader and climate activist, as well as Sister Laura Vicuña Pereira Manso, a Franciscan Catechist and member of Brazil’s Kariri people, known for her advocacy for human rights and ecological justice in the Amazon. (Sister Laura is scheduled to visit Canada in November as guest speaker of CJI’s fall campaign, which will focus on “Women at the heart of justice.”)
In Calgary, Cardinal Barreto will speak on socio-ecological justice, and reiterate the call made by church leaders for wealthy nations to cancel the debt of developing countries. Poor countries spent a record $1.4 trillion to service their foreign debt in 2023 alone, he said, citing World Bank figures. Cardinal Barreto echoed Pope Francis’ notion of “ecological debt” owed by wealthy nations to poorer nations suffering from a a climate crisis they did little to cause. The Jubilee People’s Forum will gather pilgrims and activists from around the world and across Canada to learn, pray and take action in the lead up to the G7 Leaders’ Summit scheduled June 15 to 17 in Calgary.
“This is a Kairos moment – a critical time for change” in the world, said Cardinal Barreto, as he urged CJI to continue its support for the poor and the marginalized.
