Loading...
Loading...
Click here if you don’t see subscription options

A Passionist missionary on trial in Peru for allegedly inciting a riot has ministered constantly among the poor and has worked tirelessly to defend their rights, including the right to care for the land they have been farming to support their families, said the superior general and top officers of the Passionist order. Mario Bartolini, an Italian Passionist priest who has worked in Peru for more than 35 years, was awaiting sentencing on charges that he incited riots in the spring of 2009 in Barranquita, a town in Peru’s Amazon region. Small farmers in the area have been protesting plans to displace them, clear the land and plant hundreds of acres of palm trees for a palm oil biodiesel project. In a letter to Father Bartolini released by the Passionist headquarters in Rome on Oct. 24, the superior general of the order and provincial superiors from around the world encouraged the priest “to continue with your mission and maintain your peace of mind and serenity.”

Comments are automatically closed two weeks after an article's initial publication. See our comments policy for more.

The latest from america

Jay Sefton in ‘Unreconciled’ (barebones theater company)
”Unreconciled” looks abuse, disregard and callousness in the eye and witnesses instead to radical kindness.
Elise L. RyanApril 04, 2025
‘A Man Escaped’ is a story of a man seeking temporal salvation, but Robert Bresson’s film takes on deeper meaning, becoming a parable of the Spirit.
John DoughertyApril 04, 2025
The thought of losing Pope Francis one day is a hard one for me to grapple with; I know my reasons why. What surprised me was how many of my non-Catholic friends, even those whose feelings toward the church are decisively negative, also expressed their care and concern.
Molly CahillApril 04, 2025
How is Catholic Charities navigating political opposition to their work with migrants?
JesuiticalApril 04, 2025