Shamanic ritual at World Economic Forum: ‘What spirit rules in Davos?’ priest asks

ACI Prensa Staff, Jan 18, 2024 / 18:00 pm (CNA).

Father Jesús Silva Castignani, a priest of the Archdiocese of Madrid, Spain, questioned the spirituality that governs the World Economic Forum now holding its annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland: “What spirit governs Davos?” he asked in a Jan. 17 post on X.

As part of a plenary session on Wednesday titled “Climate and Nature: A Systemic Response Is Needed,” Chieftess Putanny Yawanawá of the Amazonian Yawanawá tribe, located in the Acre region of northwest Brazil, performed a shamanic rite.

After making some invocations while rubbing her hands together, the woman representing the Indigenous blew on the heads of the participants, among whom were the managing director of the International Monetary Fund, Kristalina Georgieva; the president of the World Bank, Ajay Banga; the CEO of IKEA, Jesper Brodin; and the billionaire André Hoffmann.

After learning of the event, Silva posed four questions on social media about what happened: “a) Would it have occurred to you to invite a priest to say a prayer? b) Do we know which spirits the lady is invoking? c) Christianity is obscurantist but the heart-ripping Indigenous were not? d) What spirit governs Davos?”

The host for the event justified the presence of Chieftess Puttany by stating that “to look to the future we must look back and see what the wishes of our ancestors were.”

Before performing the shamanic rite, Puttany stated that “we can join our hands, unite our hearts, unite our thoughts in the same direction, for the healing of the planet and spiritual healing” while assuring that “when we unite in our thinking and our heart, our Mother Earth will listen to us.”

At the conclusion of the rite, the shaman encouraged the participants to join their hands and raise them in unison.

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.