Gold, Greed, and the Gospel: A Bishop’s Cry for the Amazon’s Soul
Deep in the heart of Peru’s Amazon, where rivers shimmer under the sunlight and faith weaves through the rainforest, a new crisis is poisoning both land and life. Bishop Miguel Ángel Cadenas, a missionary who has served the region for thirty years, is sounding the alarm: the global rush for gold has turned sacred soil into toxic ground. As prices soar, illegal mining has spread like wildfire, releasing mercury that now taints the Tigre, Nanay, Napo, and Putumayo rivers. Local fish—the lifeblood of countless indigenous communities—carry contamination levels above World Health Organization limits. “This is no longer just an environmental issue,” Cadenas warns, “it’s a humanitarian one.” Food insecurity looms large as rivers, once symbols of divine abundance, now flow with silent poison.
But Bishop Cadenas’ warning reaches beyond the Amazon’s borders—it echoes in the trading halls of wealthier nations. He calls on gold-buying countries such as China, the UAE, the UK, and Switzerland to take responsibility and trace the origins of their imports. For every glittering ounce that enters global markets, there is often a river darkened, a village endangered, and a life lost. The bishop’s message is a moral plea: economic profit must never outweigh human dignity. “Earning money is fine,” he declares, “but not at the cost of injustice and the lives of the poorest.” His words pierce through the noise of global commerce, reminding the world that creation itself groans when greed goes unchecked.
