“Pope Francis’ statements...were a source of great pain for survivors of sexual abuse,” Cardinal O’Malley said in a statement released Jan. 20.

“The degradation of the environment...cannot be separated from the moral degradation of our communities.”

Francis is the first pope to come to the Amazon region, and he insisted that his first event and major speech of his visit to Peru should be to this place.

Society cannot look the other way and allow a culture that demeans the dignity of women to persist, Pope Francis said.

Sheik Ahmad el-Tayeb, the grand imam, hosted a meeting Jan. 17-18 with Christian and Muslim clerics and political leaders from 86 countries in reaction to President Trump's decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.

Father Ernesto Cavassa was provincial of the Jesuits in Peru from 1998 to 2004, and president of the Conference of Latin American Jesuit Provincials from 2005 to 2012.