A senior official of the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith and two Catholic bishops have drawn attention after participating in an Andean ceremony involving offerings to “Mother Earth” during a Church-supported gathering in Peru.
The ceremony took place Aug. 13 in Cusco at the opening of “Weaving Voices for Dignity: For Human Rights and the Common Good,” a gathering organized around questions of human dignity, human rights and the challenges facing communities in southern Peru.
According to LifeSiteNews, citing reporting and video obtained by InfoVaticana, the opening ceremony included coca leaves, food offerings and guided breathing exercises associated with an Andean ritual honoring Pachamama, or “Mother Earth.”
Among those participating was Monsignor Jordi Bertomeu, an official of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith who has also served as a papal commissioner in matters involving clerical sexual abuse. According to LifeSiteNews and InfoVaticana, footage from the event shows Bertomeu placing coca leaves among the offerings.
Bishop Lizardo Estrada Herrera, secretary general of the Latin American Episcopal Council (CELAM), and Bishop Miguel Ángel Cadenas of Iquitos were also present, according to the reports.
During the ceremony, a woman leading the ritual described August as a significant month in the Andean worldview.
“This month of August is very special for us, for the Andean worldview; it is the month of Mother Earth, who loves us so much, who is so caring, who is so generous, who gives us food,” she told those gathered, according to LifeSiteNews.
Participants were reportedly given coca leaves and instructed to close their eyes as they reflected on their interior state. They were then directed to place the leaves into bowls arranged with other offerings on the ground.
“We are seeing how our interior is,” the ceremony leader said, according to LifeSiteNews. “This body, this body that we inhabit is land, it is territory.”
She then instructed participants regarding the offering, saying, “We thank the earth in this important month: we give her three breaths when we deposit the [coca leaves].”
Food was also presented as an offering during the ceremony.
According to InfoVaticana, the available recordings do not show a Catholic prayer, blessing or invocation during the opening ritual. LifeSiteNews reported that images from the ceremony show the Catholic participants taking part in the offering rather than simply watching it, including Bishop Estrada making his offering shortly before Bertomeu.
The Catholic participation is likely to raise questions among faithful concerned about the distinction between legitimate respect for Indigenous cultures and participation in religious practices that could conflict with the Church’s worship of God alone.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches that the First Commandment requires Christians to adore God alone and rejects idolatry, including the divinization of created things. At the same time, the Church has long sought to evangelize within different cultures while recognizing what is genuinely good in them. Discernment becomes particularly important when cultural traditions include explicitly religious acts or invocations.
The broader gathering in Cusco, however, was presented by Church organizers as an initiative focused on human dignity and the common good rather than as a religious ceremony devoted to Pachamama.
According to Vatican News, the event brought together Catholic leaders with “representatives of social organizations, Indigenous peoples and communities, grassroots groups, and human rights defenders from nine regions of southern Peru.”
The purpose was to create “a space to share experiences from different territories, identify common challenges, and develop proposals in response to the main human rights issues facing the country,” Vatican News reported.
The gathering also forms part of preparations surrounding Pope Leo XIV’s anticipated visit to Peru.
“The initiative is […] being developed as part of the preparation path for the upcoming visit of Pope Leo XIV to Peru,” Vatican News reported, describing its goal as creating dialogue among the Church, social organizations, human rights advocates and representatives of different communities.
The Vatican News account focused on the conference’s work concerning human rights and the common good and did not mention the “Mother Earth” ceremony or Bertomeu’s participation in the offering.
Following the opening ceremony, the conference proceeded with its formal program. Bertomeu addressed the gathering about the Vatican investigation into allegations of abuse and corruption involving the Sodalicio de Vida Cristiana, the Peru-based Catholic organization that was ultimately suppressed.
Bertomeu has played a prominent role in the Vatican’s handling of the Sodalicio case. His work in Peru has also generated controversy, with critics raising questions about his methods and canonical procedures during the investigation.
The latest episode is particularly sensitive because ceremonies associated with Pachamama have previously generated intense debate among Catholics over inculturation, idolatry and the limits of participation in Indigenous religious traditions.
For Catholics, respect for Indigenous peoples and their cultures does not remove the fundamental obligation expressed in the First Commandment: worship and religious adoration belong to God alone. The participation of Catholic clergy in a ceremony explicitly describing the earth as “Mother Earth” and involving ritual offerings therefore raises serious questions about how those boundaries were understood at the Cusco gathering.
Neither the material reported by LifeSiteNews nor the Vatican News account cited a public explanation from Bertomeu or the participating bishops addressing the religious character of the ceremony or explaining their decision to participate.
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