Brazil’s Indigenous peoples mourn Pope Francis: ‘a prophet who stood with us'

SÃO PAULO – Among the social groups that have lamented Pope Francis’s death in Brazil, the Indigenous peoples seem to be especially impacted, with public pronouncements from several important leaders over the past week.

Cacique Raoni Metuktire, one of the major advocates of Indigenous rights and environmental protection in the South American country, said he and Francis were friends, but he didn’t know that the pontiff was sick.

“We talked about living in peace and about living well. Pope, wherever you are, hear me in spirit: May we grow even stronger. I’ll no longer be on this Earth for long and I want to meet you there with the Creator,” 93-year-old Raoni said in Kayapo language on a video released last week.