With the headline “Metallo pesante” (“Heavy Metal”), the Vatican newspaper devoted the most prominent front-page coverage in its April 9 edition to high levels of mercury contamination suffered by indigenous Yanomami communities in the Amazon region of Brazil as a result of nearby gold mines.
The French news agency AFP reported on the story earlier this month. L’Osservatore Romano, the Vatican newspaper, also noted that “the Amazonian Ecclesial Conference (Ceama) and the Pan-Amazonian Ecclesial Network (Repam), in union with the Church of Brazil, have also repeatedly reaffirmed their commitment to the protection of the Amazonian peoples.”