Cardinal Pedro Ricardo Barreto Jimeno, a retired former Jesuit Archbishop of Huancayo, Peru, played a key role in organizing the 2019 Amazon Synod and is known for his outspoken generally liberal views on national politics and focus on the environment.

Born on February 12, 1944, in Lima, Peru, he joined the Jesuit novitiate in Lima and pursued his philosophical studies at the Jesuit faculty in Alcalá de Henares, Spain, before completing his theological studies in Lima.

Barreto was ordained as a priest on December 18, 1971, and took his final vows as a Jesuit on October 3, 1976. He served in various roles, including assistant to the master of novices, head of vocational pastoral ministry, professor, spiritual director, parish priest, and superior in different communities across Peru.

On November 9, 2001, he was appointed as vicar apostolic of Jaén and titular bishop of Acufida. His episcopal ordination took place on January 1, 2002. On July 17, 2004, he was appointed as Archbishop of Huancayo, a position he held until his retirement on February 12, 2024.

Pope Francis elevated Barreto to cardinal in the consistory of June 28, 2018, assigning him the titular church of Santi Pietro e Paolo a Via Ostiense. He is a member of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development.

Cardinal Barreto is known for his strong stance on environmental issues, echoing Pope Francis’s call to care for “our common home.” He faced death threats for speaking out against pollution from a smelter in La Oroya that threatened the health of people living in the Andes Mountains. His commitment to environmental causes led to confrontations with government officials and managers of U.S.-based Doe Run Peru, which owned the smelter complex.

The Peruvian cardinal has been unafraid to speak out on political issues in his country, often resulting in considerable backlash. In May 2021, he generated controversy for statements that were interpreted as support for Pedro Castillo, then a presidential candidate accused of having links to terrorism. In December 2023, Cardinal Barreto harshly criticized the release of former President Alberto Fujimori, calling it “a slap in the face to the country.”

In 2018, he defended gender ideology, stating that it “dignifies men and women,” despite the fact that the ideology has been condemned by Pope Francis. Interviewed by Ideeleradio, Barreto said: “The Church has some principles and values ​​that cannot be renounced and speaks of dignifying the role of women in every field of action and, in that sense, we have to be aware that this gender approach, which seems to me to be the most appropriate for dignifying both men and women, each in their own role, is not going to be easy.”

Barreto has held significant positions in various Church organizations. He served as the president of the bishops’ Social Action Commission in 2006 and president of the Justice and Solidarity Department of the Latin American bishops’ council (CELAM) in 2011. He is also a vice president of the Pan-Amazonian Ecclesial Network (REPAM) and was a member of the organizing committee for the Pan-Amazon Synod of Bishops.

In 2019, during that Synod of Bishops, Barreto expressed support for Pope Francis’ vision of the Church, stating that those who oppose the Pope “want a static Church, a Church of doctrine, more than one of pastoral action.” He argued that what was needed was a Church that responds to the needs of people and nature itself.

He also said that he believed “the majority” of the synod fathers were in favor of the ordination of viri probati (married men of proven virtue) because they were concerned to provide the Eucharist regularly to communities in the vast Amazonian region that otherwise would not have it except with great irregularity. Pope Francis did not explicitly approve or endorse the ordination of viri probati to the priesthood in his apostolic exhortation Querida Amazonia. The cardinal also criticized reducing the synod to a debate on ordaining married men as he said it distracted from “the socio-environmental problems of the Amazonian region.”

Cardinal Barreto was a member of the organizing committee for the Pan-Amazon Synod, during which the Pachamama controversy occurred, but he did not appear to have any direct role in its organization.

Also during the synod he was one of a number of Church leaders who took part in a renewal of the 1965 “Pact of the Catacombs” that had originally aimed to bring the Church closer to the poor and back to the early Church, but which its critics said helped pave the way for liberation theology.

Cardinal Barreto speaks Spanish but it is unclear if he speaks any other languages.