AP PHOTOS: Indigenous deacon in Mexico echoes late pope's call to defend rights and Mother Earth

Deacon Juan Pérez Gómez helps tend to his small Tsotsil Catholic community in Mexico. He was ordained a deacon in 2022, during the papacy of the late Pope Francis.

At a recent service in the remote southern Mexican community of Simojovel, Catholic and Mayan symbols mingled at the altar as Pérez Gómez, 57, read the Gospel in his native Tsotsil and echoed Francis’ call to defend human rights, justice, and care for Mother Earth.