Pope crosses Peru in finale of trip home to visit flock high in Andes and deep in Amazon

CUSCO, Peru (AP) — The plight of Indigenous peoples and the protection of the Amazon take center stage Sunday as Pope Leo XIV travels across Peru to visit communities high in the Andes and deep in the rainforest.

On the penultimate day of his visit to his adopted homeland, Leo is expected to echo Pope Francis, emphasizing Catholic teaching that links care for the most vulnerable with care for God’s creation.

He travels first to Cusco, the former capital of the Inca empire, before flying to the Amazonian city of Pucallpa, where illegal mining, deforestation and threats to Indigenous communities will be central concerns.

“The church in Peru perceives the continuity of his commitment to accompany Indigenous peoples in the defense of life and the care of the territory, which is increasingly threatened by deforestation and illegal mining,” Peruvian Cardinal Pedro Barreto, president of the Amazon bishops conference, told The Associated Press.

“Leo is clearing the path laid out” by Francis on environmental protection and human rights, Barreto said. He added that the pope would hear about violence affecting children and young people.

The visit to Cusco, 3,400 meters (more than 11,000 feet) above sea level, will test the stamina of the pope, who is recovering from lung cancer surgery.

His schedule begins at the historic Sacsayhuamán fortress, where he will speak about local religious devotion. In the Plaza de Armas, he will present a shroud from the Holy See for the image of the Lord of the Earthquakes, a focus of devotion in a country prone to seismic activity. He will then deliver a message to the sick before leaving for Pucallpa.

In the rainforest city of 434,000 people, Leo is expected to reinforce Francis’ teachings on protecting the environment and Indigenous communities threatened by illegal mining and other forms of exploitation.

The Rev. Luca Zanta, one of the visit’s organizers, said Leo would “primarily listen to the Amazonian Indigenous peoples, including the Shipibo, Asháninka, and Kukama communities” gathered beside Lake Yarinacocha.

Zanta said Leo would lead a symbolic planting of a shihuahuaco, a native rainforest tree that can live for more than 1,000 years and grow dozens of meters tall.

“That is a symbol of how we want our common house to be. We want the Catholic Church to live long, protect those who need it and see its values and beauty admired by generations and generations,” Zanta told local radio Saturday.

The Rev. Peter Hughes, an 84-year-old Irish priest who has lived in Peru for more than six decades, said the visit reflects the church’s concern for the poor.

“In Latin American terms, the Indigenous peoples, or what is left of them, are the most important collective representing the truly poor,” he said. “That is what makes leaders like Pope Francis and Pope Leo speak the language of the Gospel in very human terms, putting a premium on justice and peace. In the Christian sense of justice, the most important people are the poor, the marginalized, and those who have no voice.”

Illegal gold mining has become an increasingly lucrative business in the Amazon, devastating forests and polluting rivers. Miners use makeshift suction dredges and mercury, a toxic metal, to extract gold.

“This global context of war and conflict has contributed to gold prices rising to historic highs, and the direct impact of this is that gold — which is present in all Amazonian rivers — can be extracted using mercury, particularly if you want to do this on a large scale,” said Raphael Hoetmer, Western Amazon program director at Amazon Watch.

“It’s causing pollution, health issues, and environmental degradation,” he said.

On Saturday, police reported three operations against illegal mining in Madre de Dios, one of the country’s most biodiverse regions. They said they destroyed extraction equipment, including rafts and motors, valued at $4.1 million.

Illegal mining also drives deforestation and encroaches on Indigenous territories, threatening ancestral lands and exposing communities to violence and organized crime.

Leo is also expected to address sexual violence against women and girls. Barreto said the pope would likely pay particular attention to a recent case in Condorcanqui province in the northern Amazon, where teachers sexually abused Indigenous Awajún and Wampis girls.

There is particular concern in Peru for Indigenous peoples living in isolation, including the Mashco Piro in the forests of southeastern Madre de Dios.

Images released by Survival International in 2024 showed dozens of Mashco Piro people near logging concessions. Clashes between Indigenous people and loggers that year left at least two loggers dead.

Concerns also extend to Kakataibo communities living in isolation or initial contact.

“They have reservations that should protect them. But the Peruvian government is increasingly unwilling to acknowledge the existence of these peoples,” Hoetmer said. “And their reserves are also being invaded by drug cartels because, of course, they’re ideal places for them to operate since no one can get in.”

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Winfield reported from Chiclayo, Peru; Suarez reported from Lima, Peru.

Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

Women wait to welcome Pope Leo XIV ahead of his meeting with the Catholic community in Zaña, Peru, Saturday, Nov. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

A girl wearing a papal hat walks out of a church a day before Pope Leo XIV's visit to Cusco, Peru, Saturday, Nov. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Martin Mejia)

Pope Leo XIV attends a meeting with the Catholic community on the occasion of the closing of the Jubilee Year of Santo Toribio de Mogrovejo at the Shrine of Santo Toribio de Mogrovejo in Zana, Peru, on the ninth day of his twelve-day apostolic journey to South America, Saturday, Nov. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

Pope Leo XIV watches dancers at the end of a meeting with the Catholic community on the occasion of the closing of the Jubilee Year of Santo Toribio de Mogrovejo at the Shrine of Santo Toribio de Mogrovejo in Zana, Peru, on the ninth day of his twelve-day apostolic journey to South America, Saturday, Nov. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

Pope Leo XIV arrives for a meeting with the Catholic community on the occasion of the closing of the Jubilee Year of Santo Toribio de Mogrovejo at the Shrine of Santo Toribio de Mogrovejo in Zana, Peru, on the ninth day of his twelve-day apostolic journey to South America, Saturday, Nov. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

Pope Leo XIV watches dancers at the end of a meeting with the Catholic community on the occasion of the closing of the Jubilee Year of Santo Toribio de Mogrovejo at the Shrine of Santo Toribio de Mogrovejo in Zana, Peru, on the ninth day of his twelve-day apostolic journey to South America, Saturday, Nov. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

Israeli forces killed a top commander of the militant Hamas group in an overnight airstrike on southern Gaza, Israel said Sunday.

In Jordan, three men were sentenced to death for a deadly shooting last month at a Greek Orthodox Church in a village north of the city of Karak. In Yemen, the Houthis said they freed around 600 detainees captured in the latest escalation of fighting.

And Iran’s Revolutionary Guard claimed that it struck a radar system at an American helicopter base in Bahrain. The U.S. military command did not immediately comment on the claim.

Here is the latest news from the Middle East on Sunday. Read our full coverage here.

Israel said it killed a top Hamas commander in an airstrike on southern Gaza just after midnight Saturday. A Hamas statement confirmed the killing of Samir Mahmoud Hassan Abu Younis and said a funeral would be held for him later Sunday.

The Israeli military said Abu Younis had been directing plans “to advance and carry out terror attacks.” Two months earlier, his predecessor was also killed in an Israeli strike.

The military said it targeted other Hamas militants in Sunday’s strike but provided no details.

Jordan’s State Security Court on Sunday sentenced three men to death for a deadly shooting at a Greek Orthodox Church in a village north of the city of Karak last month, state-run Al Mamlaka TV said. The men were charged with “carrying out terrorist acts.”

The Oct. 23 attack was one of the deadliest on Jordan’s Christian minority in decades, with nine people killed and dozens wounded. The attackers targeted mourners attending a funeral at St. George’s Church in Hamoud, a village about 100 kilometers (71 miles) south of the capital, Amman.

The three defendants — two brothers and their brother-in-law — were arrested three days after the attack following a shootout with security forces. All three were wounded. Jordanian authorities described the men as followers of an extremist ideology but said they were not affiliated with an organized group. No group claimed responsibility for the attack.

Days later, Jordan launched airstrikes in southern Syria, saying they targeted militant groups linked to the attack. Syrian authorities disputed Jordan’s account and reported civilian deaths.

The Iran-backed Houthis on Sunday freed some 600 detainees captured in the latest escalation of fighting, the largest unilateral release of detainees in the country's 12-year civil war, said Abdul-Qader al-Murtaza, a Houthi official on prisoners affairs.

Also Sunday, a group allied with the Saudi-backed Yemeni government that is fighting the Houthis said its fighters pulled out from areas along the Bab el-Mandeb Strait amid relentless attacks by the rebel group.

The group, known as the Southern Armed Forces, said it would now focus on securing Yemen's southern city of Aden, held by the internationally recognized government, as well as trying to break the Houthi siege of the crucial city of Taiz.

Earlier in the day, Houthi health officials said an airstrike on Sanaa, Yemen’s capital, wounded two women and two children. The strike hit a residential neighborhood in the Houthi-held Sanaa, according to the rebels' Health Ministry. It said the wounded were taken to the Muayyad Hospital for treatment but provided no other details on the strike.

A Houthi spokesman, Anees al-Asbahi, blamed Saudi Arabia for the strike. There was no immediate comment from the kingdom.

Meanwhile, Saudi military spokesman Maj. Gen. Turki al-Malki said air defense systems intercepted and destroyed two ballistic missiles fired by the Houthis early on Sunday toward Riyadh, the Saudi capital. Two drones were also shot down over the Saudi oil-rich Eastern Region, said the spokesman.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guard claimed early on Sunday that it struck a radar system at an American helicopter base in Bahrain, the state-run IRNA news agency reported.

The U.S. military’s Central Command, which oversees American forces in the Middle East, did not immediately comment. On Friday, CENTCOM had said it intercepted two Iranian drones headed toward Bahrain and denied an Iranian claim at the time that it had struck a U.S. early-warning radar system there.

Bahrain’s military said Sunday its air defense systems intercepted a number of Iranian projectiles before they reached their targets. Earlier, Bahrain’s Interior Ministry issued two nationwide alerts warning of a threat, the first such alerts since September.

It gave no further details but said “Iran continues its systematic hostile approach through its sinful attacks targeting the Kingdom of Bahrain.”

Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman, Esmail Baghaei, on Sunday rejected Germany’s demand that Tehran halt uranium enrichment, saying the country has a right to enrich uranium as a member of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.

“Iran’s right to enrichment is not something Germany, France or others have granted us,” Baghaei added.

Baghaei also criticized the U.N. nuclear watchdog — the International Atomic Energy Agency — for what he described as “nontechnical speculation” about a possible new uranium enrichment facility in the central Iranian city of Isfahan.

He said the agency had lost access to Iran’s nuclear facilities during the war with the United States and Israel, but claimed Iran had not suspended its safeguards obligations.

Asked about a possible response to any renewed U.S. attacks, Baghaei said Iran would “not leave any blow unanswered.”

This report will be updated throughout the day as new developments emerge.

This story has been corrected that the shooting in Jordan took place in the village of Hamoud in the Karak governorate, not in the city of Karak.

An elderly woman who fled Al-Sabihah in Lahj province sits inside a livestock enclosure where she is seeking shelter in the Bir Ahmed area of Al-Buraiqeh district, Aden, Yemen, Friday, Nov. 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Abdulnasser Alseddik)

Palestinians walk through a tent camp housing displaced people amid buildings destroyed by Israeli strikes during the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza City, Sunday, Nov. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

Jordanian security personnel stand guard outside the State Security Court, which sentenced three men to death Sunday for an Oct. 23 shooting that killed nine people at St. George's Greek Orthodox Church in Hamoud village in Karak governorate, in Amman, Jordan, Sunday, Nov. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Raad Adayleh)

Jordanian security personnel stand guard outside the State Security Court, which sentenced three men to death Sunday for an Oct. 23 shooting that killed nine people at St. George's Greek Orthodox Church in Hamoud village in Karak governorate, in Amman, Jordan, Sunday, Nov. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Raad Adayleh)

Jordanian security personnel stand guard outside the State Security Court, which sentenced three men to death Sunday for an Oct. 23 shooting that killed nine people at St. George's Greek Orthodox Church in Hamoud village in Karak governorate, in Amman, Jordan, Sunday, Nov. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Raad Adayleh)

Women sit on a bench overlooking cargo ships anchored in the Strait of Hormuz off Bandar Abbas, Iran, Friday, Nov. 13, 2026. (Amirhosein Khorgooi/ISNA via AP)

Displaced Palestinian children repair tents damaged by heavy rain in Gaza City, Sunday, Nov. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)