Irish Sunday Mirror

Pope in visit to Escobar’s drug territory

- BY JULIA SYMMES COBB

POPE Francis has visited the area once notorious as the stomping grounds of drug lord Pablo Escobar.

The Pontiff arrived in Medellin, Colombia, yesterday to find a city transforme­d since his predecesso­r Pope John Paul II went there in 1986.

Violence between cartels raged in the poor “comuna” districts and the late Pope was moved to decry drug violence.

Francis is expected to honour those dedicated to religious vocations when he says Mass for a crowd of hundreds of thousands.

Feared drug trafficker Escobar was recently resurrecte­d as a character in hugely-popular Netflix series Narcos.

 ??  ?? HONOUR Pope in Colombia
HONOUR Pope in Colombia

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