The Government of Peru, through Enrique Alcántara, Minister of Justice, ruled out the installation of an evangelical chaplaincy in the Government Palace, and said that this, by law, “is exclusive to the Catholic Church.”
This was indicated by the minister this Friday, May 30, after the dissemination of some photographs in which the president of Peru, Dina Boluarte, with the evangelical pastor Anthony Lastra, who was part of the environment of the former president and now reo Pedro Castillo and who has requested to install an evangelical chaplaincy in Government Palace is appreciated. About Lastra, local media say he is the president of the president.
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Anthony Lastra, who was Pedro Castillo’s spiritual guidance is the new advisor of President Dina Boluarte. In addition to his participation in the religious sphere, the evangelical preacher Lastra has had an active presence in politics. pic.twitter.com/RaH0oKF5Xl
– Juan Pablo Villanueva. (@Juanpablevil3) May 30, 2025
This denial is given only days after President Boluarte was in the Vatican for the opening mass of the Pontificate of Leo XIV, the first American and Peruvian Pope in the history of the Catholic Church, who received it in audience.
“Lord Este (Lastra), like any other pastor, has effectively been in the Ministry of Justice, in the Government Palace requesting the installation of a chaplaincy” of “Evangelical Churches,” said Minister Alcántara in statements to the press, collected by Canal N.
“However, chaplaincy, by law, is exclusive to the Catholic Church. Then we deny that in the Government Palace, in any other public institution you want to install a chaplaincy of a religion that is not the Catholic,” he added.
“We denied that Mr. (Lastra) be an advisor or has any link with the presidential office or with any other state institution,” said the minister.
“With all the respect that all religions deserve, the only chaplaincy that exists is that of the Catholic Church,” said Alcántara.
On the other hand, the Ministry of Justice published on Thursday a statement in which it clarifies that “Mr. Anthony Lastra has no employment or spiritual relationship with state agencies and the creation of an evangelical chaplaincy in Government Palace is ruled out.”
The statement affirms that “the president of the Republic is a woman of deep Catholic faith, respectful of religious diversity in the country and believes in the interreligious dialogue.”
The text also highlights that the Peruvian State “fundamentally recognizes the Catholic Church for its importance in the country’s historical, cultural and moral formation according to the country according to Agreement between the Holy See and the Republic of Peru”, Signed on July 19, 1980, during the Pontificate of San Juan Pablo II.
Walter Sánchez Silva
I am husband since 2008. With my wife we have three children here and one who went to heaven in 2023, before birth. Since I joined ACI Press in 2005, I have had the opportunity to cover various events of the Catholic Church. Among them, the World Youth Days in Colonia, Madrid and Rio de Janeiro and the apostolic trips of Pope Benedict XVI to Mexico and Pope Francis to South Korea. I have been sent to the Vatican to cover the family’s synods, in 2015; of the Amazon, in 2019 and that of Sinodality, in 2023. I follow the situation of the Catholic Church in Nicaragua, which suffers the persecution of the dictatorship of Daniel Ortega, as well as the ecclesial news in the region.