Pope arrives in Peru after tumultuous Chile visit
LIMA: Pope Francis arrived Thursday in Peru on the final leg of his South American trip, where he will meet indigenous people and hear firsthand how the country’s gold rush is destroying large areas of their Amazon homeland.
Earlier, the pontiff highlighted the plight of vulnerable immigrants and robustly defended a bishop accused of covering up sexual abuse at the end of a visit to Chile overshadowed by controversy.
In the northern border region of Iquique – which he said was “the land of dreams” for so many – the pope hit out at human traffickers and others who seek to take advantage of helpless immigrants.
“Let us be attentive to those who profit from the irregular status of many immigrants who don’t know the language or who don’t have their papers ‘in order’,” Francis told a colorful congregation of some 50,000 people at an openair mass on Iquique’s sprawling Lobito beach.
Francis’ Latam plane touched down at 4.30pm ( 2130 GMT) in Peru’s capital where he was greeted by President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski and his American wife Nancy Lange, according to AFP reporters.
The second and final leg of his weeklong South American trip will include stops in Puerto Maldonado – where he will be welcomed by some 3,500 indigenous people, from Peru as well as neighbouring Brazil and Bolivia – as well as Trujillo and Lima.
The 81-year- old pontiff has confronted sensitive issues at every turn since he began his visit Monday, offering an apology to victims of priestly sexual abuse, praying with survivors of Augusto Pinochet’s brutal dictatorship, and calling for protection of the rights of Chile’s persecuted indigenous communities.
The sex abuse issue dogged him almost to the altar as he prepared to celebrate mass on Thursday.
Chatting with journalists as he stepped down from his Popemobile, Francis’ mood turned serious when prodded over his support for a controversial bishop, Juan Barros, who he appointed in 2015 although he stands accused of covering up another priest’s abuse of boys.
“The day they bring me proof against Bishop Barros, then I will speak,” the pope said in response to a journalist’s question about the 61-year- old.
“There is not a single piece of proof against him. Everything is slander. Is this clear?” the pope said before walking off to prepare for the mass. — AFP