The Prelature of Alto Xingu (Pará, Brazil) celebrated its 2026 Missionary Week with the theme “It is the mission of us all” and the motto: “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature (Mk 16:15).” Lay pastoral agents, consecrated persons, and clergy from across the Prelature participated.
The Augustinian Recollect bishop Jesús María López Mauleón opened the event with a day of training on the foundations of mission. He presented Jesus Christ, his actions, and attitudes as a model for mission and called for ongoing conversion and a strengthening of faith. He also offered practical guidelines for missionary visits.
Priests, nuns, seminarians, and lay people participated in this Week, whose program included formation, home visits, fellowship, testimonies, listening sessions, updates on the situation in mission areas and parishes, spiritual renewal, strengthening and reaffirmation of missionary commitment, and unity between the bishop, missionaries, and communities. It also aimed to inspire more missionary vocations.
The Prelature of Alto Xingu is a geographical and existential periphery of the Church. Comprising six municipalities (Tucumã, São Félix do Xingu, Ourilândia do Norte, Bannach, Cumaru do Norte, and Água Azul do Norte), it was established by Pope Francis in November 2019. It has 240,000 inhabitants and an area similar in size to Greece or Nicaragua, with a significant indigenous presence, especially from the Kayapó people.
The Prelature, as an “economic frontier,” is undergoing a profound transformation of its territory due to extensive cattle ranching, gold mining (if illegal, known as garimpos), the encroachment on indigenous lands, and the dispersal of rural communities far removed from urban centers. The State’s presence is very weak. The Church also struggles to maintain a presence: many homes have never received a visit from a priest.
In recent years, deforestation, land occupation, conflicts, fires, illegal logging, and pressure on public lands and indigenous reserves have become prominent issues. Social and environmental issues are one and the same. Three of the Prelature’s six municipalities are among the six in Brazil with the largest areas of illegal mining and their indigenous lands suffer very serious pressure from invasion.
Garimpos generate enormous violence and destruction: heavy machinery, dredges, fuel, polluting mercury, weapons, slave labor… In 2025, São Félix do Xingu was the municipality with fifty to one hundred thousand inhabitants with the highest homicide rate in Brazil (61.2 per 100,000 inhabitants).
The state cannot guarantee public services: education, healthcare, transportation, communications, law enforcement, justice system, and social assistance. Organized crime finds spaces to establish itself.
A vast, sparsely populated territory on the economic frontier, the Prelature of Alto Xingu is home to extraordinary natural wealth, large cattle ranches, significant indigenous territories, and intense mining activity. This combination attracts arms trafficking, drug trafficking, wildlife trafficking, child sexual exploitation, threats against authorities, and money laundering and circulation.
