Iquitos
+ Cardinal George Pell, Archbishop of Sydney
29 Mar 2009
Iquitos is the largest city in the world which cannot be reached by road. With a growing population of about 500,000, it is the capital of the Amazon region of north-east Peru, all rain forest and jungle, 1850 kilometres away and very different from the modern heart of Lima. We flew in across the Andes.
Three of us came from Sydney to visit Father John Andersen, a Sydney priest who has worked for 20 years in his parish in Iquitos, a model community of vitality, faith and friendliness. Even by Catholic standards their warmth to us was extraordinary.
More than half the Catholics of the world 550 million, live in Latin America, where the Spanish and Portuguese patterns of culture make daily living (less ordered and more interesting) and some forms of devotion different from ours. However Catholic essentials are clearly recognizable and Catholic unity is regularly asserted and in evidence from the many pictures of Pope Benedict. Peru is 90% Catholic.
The city of Iquitos is peaceful and thriving, full of clean well fed children, who seemed unusually lively and happy to our eyes. Life moves slowly but the main streets are choked with noisy three wheeled motor-bikes, many of them taxis. Iquitos has a substantial military presence, with air force and naval contingents as well as a big number of soldiers, who police the distant borders with Ecuador, Colombia and Brazil and help maintain law and order in the scattered riverside villages across hundreds of thousands of square kilometres of jungle, 30% of the area of Peru.
The temperature varies from hot to very hot and the yearly humidity averages 83%. The heavy rain for most months takes its toll on buildings and roads. Repairs and maintenance are not the highest priority, many streets are unsealed and potholed, while electricity blackouts are not unknown.
However great strides have been made especially in education and health. Thirty years ago many babies died of dehydration, one missioner explaining he averaged almost one baby funeral a day. Today a litre of boiled water, 8 teaspoons of sugar and one of salt prevent most such deaths. The hospital we visited was modern and impressive.
Most schools have two intakes a day, morning and afternoon. We visited Rosa Augustino College (primary and secondary) with three shifts for a total of 3,200 pupils, 300 of them at night because they work during the day.
Father Andersen has the energy of St. Paul and this is reflected in the loyalty of his parishioners, the vitality of the worship and the activities of his many parish committees.
He set a cracking pace for us. I baptized fifty young soldiers on Saturday, then we confirmed them and fifty others. At the open air Sunday Mass we baptized fifty-five babies and I married four couples, who rejoiced with their children in the Church’s blessing.
Catholic life in the Amazon is colourful.
