Elevation of Bolivian city keeps Pope’s trip short
LA PAZ, BOLIVIA— After wrapping up the Ecuador leg of his South American pilgrimage Wednesday, Pope Francis flew to Bolivia, where church-state tensions over everything from the environment to the role of the church in society are high on the agenda.
He was greeted on the tarmac with a hug from Bolivian President Evo Morales. The president then hung around the Pope’s neck a pouch traditionally used by people in the Andes to hold coca leaves, which they chew to ward off the ill effects of extreme altitude.
Before leaving Ecuador’s capital, Quito, Francis met with elderly resi- dents of a nursing home and gave an off-the-cuff pep talk to local clergy, telling them to be humble and to never forget their roots. Then he flew to La Paz.
The stop in La Paz was being kept to four hours to spare the 78-year-old Pope from the taxing 4,000-metre elevation. The rest of his Bolivian stay will be in Santa Cruz.
Bolivian Communications Minister Marianala Paco said Morales decided to cut his speech before the Pope to five minutes “considering the Pope’s health,” state news agency ABI reported.
Francis and Morales have met on several occasions, most recently in October when the president, a former coca farmer, participated in a Vatican summit of grassroots groups of indigenous and advocates for the poor who have been championed by Francis. Their shared views on caring for society’s poorest and the need for wealthy countries to drastically change course to address climate change, have bumped up against Morales’ anti-clerical initiatives that have roiled relations with the local church. As soon as Morales took office in 2006, for example, the Bible and cross were removed from the presidential palace. A new constitution in 2009 made the overwhelmingly Catholic nation a secular state and Andean religious rituals replaced Catholic rites at official state ceremonies.
“There are some challenging issues in terms of Evo Morales taking on a quite combative role against the church, which he sees as a challenge to his authority,” said Clare Dixon, Latin American regional director for CAFOD, the English Catholic aid agency.
“The church is also questioning some decisions made about development in the country.”
Francis was expected to raise environmental concerns during his Bolivian sojourn, just as he did in Ecuador. And he’s likely to delicately insist on the Catholic Church’s right to have a voice in society, given its role in caring for the most marginal in South America’s poorest country.
Other highlights of the trip will be his visit to the notoriously violent Palmasola prison, where a battle between inmate gangs in 2013 left 30 people dead.