Pope Leo appoints archbishop who offered Pachamama ritual

(LifeSiteNews) — Pope Leo XIV named Bishop Lizardo Estrada Herrera, O.S.A, as coadjutor archbishop of Cusco on Saturday, just weeks after Herrera attended a ritual offering to Pachamama.

Per the Vatican daily bulletin on August 29, Pope Leo appointed Bishop Herrera, who had served as the auxiliary bishop of Cusco and as secretary general of the Peruvian bishops’ conference, as coadjutor archbishop, meaning he will become the next ordinary of the archdiocese upon a vacancy.

Earlier this month, during a conference in the same Peruvian city ahead of Leo’s November visit to the country, Herrera attended an Andean ritual dedicated to Pachamama, which involved cocoa leaves, food offerings, and guided breathing exercises.

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, notably took an active part in the August 13 pagan ritual. Bishop Miguel Ángel Cadenas of Iquitos, Peru, was also in attendance.

WATCH: Pope Leo XIV’s upcoming Peru visit prepared by Pachamama ritual.

A senior Vatican official participated in the ritual alongside two Catholic bishops.https://t.co/34MlkMCU5J pic.twitter.com/TPdHQm6i6J

— Sign of the Cross (@CatholicSOTC) August 18, 2026

Following the ritual, Michael Hichborn  reported that the event was also organized “to dialogue, share their demands, and build agreements around human rights and the common good,” drawing together:

Representatives of social organizations, indigenous and peasant communities, women’s and youth groups, LGBTIQ+ people, people with disabilities, human and environmental rights defenders, relatives of victims of state violence, and faith communities.

“So, in addition to opening the meeting with idolatrous veneration of a pagan deity, the meeting was held in conjunction with LGBT groups to include such in the promotion of ‘human dignity’ and ‘human rights,’” Hichborn stated in his article.

Exactly a week after the ritual, an “unusually powerful” 6.7-magnitude earthquake that struck near Arequipa was felt by about 2.4 million people, including those in Cusco. Thankfully it appeared to have resulted in no deaths and minimal injuries and structural damage.

Earthquakes have historically been associated with God’s divine punishment for sin. And while this earthquake may not have been the result of God’s punishment, the possibility cannot be ignored.

The Catholic Church teaches that as a result of the fall, evil entered the world and affected nature, creating the possibility for natural disasters.

Indeed, in the book of Genesis, we see God punish the world for its grave sins by destroying it through the great flood, or the deluge, sparing only Noah and his family.

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