Lucien Chauvin

Fr. Campos and a group of young parishioners formed a Laudato Si' group and began outreach work that has included technical assistance for farmers, food distribution and construction of a soup kitchen. The social work went over well, but the priest did not find the same reaction when he began questioning the impact of wildcat mining in the province. Instead of support, he started receiving threats.

Environmental issues will have a leading role at the Latin American Ecclesial Assembly, which will bring bishops, clergy religious and laity together Nov. 21-28 in Mexico City.

A regional assembly of the Catholic Church in Mexico in November is expected to plot a course for the church in Latin America and the Caribbean as it heads toward landmark events in the coming years, including, in 2031, the 500th anniversary of Mary's appearance to St. Juan Diego. 

COVID-19, which slammed Iquitos, Peru, early in the pandemic, supercharged Fr. Raymond Portelli's already jampacked life as a priest, professor and medical doctor.

Defrocked priest Fernando Karadima, at the heart of a sexual abuse case that rocked Chile's Catholic Church, died of natural causes July 25. He was 90. 

Bolivia's bishops want environmental concerns to play a key role when voters go to the polls to elect a new government in October. The Oct. 18 vote has been postponed twice because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Peru's Catholic bishops have stepped up their response to the COVID-19 emergency, announcing a new pastoral program and moving ahead with projects to improve the country's health response.

A Peruvian archbishop won a defamation suit against a local journalist in a long-running case involving alleged cover-up in an abuse scandal.