Protect the Amazon from big business and greed, Pope Francis urges

Pope Francis (R) greets members of an indigenous group from the Amazon region, at the Coliseum Madre de Dios, in Puerto Maldonado, Peru. REUTERS/Henry Romero

PUERTO MALDONADO, Peru (Reuters) - Pope Francis issued a ringing defence of the people and the environment of the Amazon on Friday, saying big business and "consumerist greed" could not be allowed to destroy a natural habitat vital for the entire planet.

Francis, who has made the environment and climate change a focus of his nearly five-year-old pontificate, made his appeal while visiting a corner of the Amazon in Peru where pristine rainforest and biodiversity is being blighted by mining and logging, much of it illegal.