There’s a well-known dynamic on papal trips, in which words or gestures by a pope that may seem banal to external audiences instead strike locals as a thunderclap, because they break some domestic taboo or have clear relevance for a simmering local controversy.

This morning, Pope Francis delivered his homily to over 500,000 people in Huanchaco Beach, Trujillo, Peru. “What a beautiful question the Lord will ask us: how many tears did you dry today?” Pope Francis said.

Pope Francis on Saturday displayed yet another example of his love affair with the Virgin Mary, presiding over a Marian celebration in Peru’s “city of the eternal spring,” where popular Catholic devotion is nearly ubiquitous and people proudly display their devotion to the Mother of God.

Black market mining has become a danger that is destroying people’s lives; forests and rivers are being destroyed, with all the richness they possess. This whole process of degradation brings with it and encourages organizations operating outside of legal structures; these debase so many of our brothers and sisters by subjecting them to human trafficking (a new form of slavery), irregular employment and crime… and to other evils that gravely affect their dignity and, at the same time, the dignity of the nation.

I know that sometimes, at night, some of you feel sad. I know that you miss your father and mother who are not here, and I know too that sometimes you feel very hurt. Forgive us those times when we adults have not cared for you, and when we did not give you the importance you deserve.

In the middle of Peru’s Amazon jungle, Pope Francis on Friday delivered what could be considered a “seamless garment” speech – stressing ecology and issuing a strong appeal for protection of the Amazon region, which he said is not an “inexhaustible source of resources,” while also insisting that human life has equal, if not greater, value.

It is painful to think that some want to reject this certainty and make Madre de Dios a nameless land, without children, a barren land. A place easy to commercialize and exploit. That is why it is good for us to repeat in our homes and communities, and in the depths of each of our hearts: This is not a land of orphans! It has a Mother!

Amazonia is not only a reserve of biodiversity but also a cultural reserve that must be preserved in the face of the new forms of colonialism. The family is, and always has been, the social institution that has most contributed to keeping our cultures alive. In moments of past crisis, in the face of various forms of imperialism, the families of the original peoples have been the best defense of life. Special care is demanded of us, lest we allow ourselves to be ensnared by ideological forms of colonialism disguised as progress.

The pope went on to say those great feasts reflect a basic instinct of Christianity, which is that the Gospel spirit is one of joy. He offered Mary as an example of how to keep the good times rolling, noting that it was Mary who pointed out to Jesus at Cana that the guests were running out of wine, which triggered the miracle.