Viganò condemns Pachamama ritual performed before Pope Leo’s Peru visit
‘How would the Martyrs of the Faith judge this apostasy of the clergy and the leaders of the conciliar-synodal church?’ asked Viganò.
Archbishop Carlo Maria
ViganòArchbishop Carlo Maria Viganò / YouTube
(LifeSiteNews) — Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò has rebuked the participation of high-ranking prelates — including a senior Vatican official — in a Pachamama ritual performed in Peru in anticipation of Pope Leo XIV’s upcoming visit.
Last week, prominent clergymen took part in an Andean ritual dedicated to Pachamama, involving coca leaves, food offerings, and guided breathing exercises. Participants were instructed to close their eyes and reflect on their interior state before placing coca leaves in bowls arranged on an altar on the ground. Food was also presented as an offering to the earth.
Monsignor Jordi Bertomeu, a priest and canon lawyer who serves in the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith and as papal commissioner for clerical sexual abuse cases, actively participated. Video shared with InfoVaticana show him placing coca leaves among the ritual offerings. Bishop Lizardo Estrada Herrera, secretary general of CELAM (Latin American and Caribbean Episcopal Council) and Bishop Miguel Ángel Cadenas of Iquitos, Peru, were also in attendance. Available images clearly show the bishops participating in the offering as well.
In a statement posted to X Thursday morning, Viganò highlighted the fact that these prelates were “active participants” in “a pagan rite of invocation to the infernal idol of Pachamama.”
READ: Pachamama ritual performed by Vatican official took place at pro-LGBT event
“It is the same idolatrous worship with which Bergoglio violated the First Commandment and profaned the Vatican gardens and St. Peter’s Basilica, and which Robert Prevost had already practiced as a young Augustinian,” wrote Viganò, referring to Pope Francis’ active participation in the pagan worship of Pachamama during the Amazon Synod in Rome in 2019, as well as future Pope Leo XIV’s participation in a Pachamama ritual in 1995.
UNEARTHED: 1995 photo shows Pope Leo XIV participating in Pachamama ritual
“The seed was sown in Assisi on October 27, 1986,” continued Viganò, referring to Pope John Paul II’s scandalous interreligious prayer meeting at Assisi, during which Buddhist monks placed a Buddha statue on top of the tabernacle in the local Church of Saint Peter.
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“The harvest we see today, when an official of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith and an auxiliary bishop offer, with visible devotion, coca leaves to an unclean Andean idol, to which human sacrifices are still offered even today,” wrote Viganò.
“To those who still wonder if there are any ‘signs of Catholicity’ remaining in this structure that bears the name of the Catholic Church but has betrayed its substance, I ask: how would the Martyrs of the Faith judge this apostasy of the clergy and the leaders of the conciliar-synodal church?”
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‘How would the Martyrs of the Faith judge this apostasy of the clergy and the leaders of the conciliar-synodal church?’ asked Viganò.
Archbishop Carlo Maria
ViganòArchbishop Carlo Maria Viganò / YouTube
Thu Aug 20, 2026 - 1:05 pm EDT
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(LifeSiteNews) — Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò has rebuked the participation of high-ranking prelates — including a senior Vatican official — in a Pachamama ritual performed in Peru in anticipation of Pope Leo XIV’s upcoming visit.
Last week, prominent clergymen took part in an Andean ritual dedicated to Pachamama, involving coca leaves, food offerings, and guided breathing exercises. Participants were instructed to close their eyes and reflect on their interior state before placing coca leaves in bowls arranged on an altar on the ground. Food was also presented as an offering to the earth.
Monsignor Jordi Bertomeu, a priest and canon lawyer who serves in the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith and as papal commissioner for clerical sexual abuse cases, actively participated. Video shared with InfoVaticana show him placing coca leaves among the ritual offerings. Bishop Lizardo Estrada Herrera, secretary general of CELAM (Latin American and Caribbean Episcopal Council) and Bishop Miguel Ángel Cadenas of Iquitos, Peru, were also in attendance. Available images clearly show the bishops participating in the offering as well.
In a statement posted to X Thursday morning, Viganò highlighted the fact that these prelates were “active participants” in “a pagan rite of invocation to the infernal idol of Pachamama.”
READ: Pachamama ritual performed by Vatican official took place at pro-LGBT event
“It is the same idolatrous worship with which Bergoglio violated the First Commandment and profaned the Vatican gardens and St. Peter’s Basilica, and which Robert Prevost had already practiced as a young Augustinian,” wrote Viganò, referring to Pope Francis’ active participation in the pagan worship of Pachamama during the Amazon Synod in Rome in 2019, as well as future Pope Leo XIV’s participation in a Pachamama ritual in 1995.
UNEARTHED: 1995 photo shows Pope Leo XIV participating in Pachamama ritual
“The seed was sown in Assisi on October 27, 1986,” continued Viganò, referring to Pope John Paul II’s scandalous interreligious prayer meeting at Assisi, during which Buddhist monks placed a Buddha statue on top of the tabernacle in the local Church of Saint Peter.
Haut du formulaire
SUBSCRIBE TO OUR DAILY HEADLINES
Bas du formulaire
“The harvest we see today, when an official of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith and an auxiliary bishop offer, with visible devotion, coca leaves to an unclean Andean idol, to which human sacrifices are still offered even today,” wrote Viganò.
“To those who still wonder if there are any ‘signs of Catholicity’ remaining in this structure that bears the name of the Catholic Church but has betrayed its substance, I ask: how would the Martyrs of the Faith judge this apostasy of the clergy and the leaders of the conciliar-synodal church?”
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