Pope urges South America to protect its poor
QUITO, Ecuador — Latin America’s first pope returned to Spanishspeaking South America for the first time Sunday, beginning an eight-day tour that will take him to three of the continent’s poorest countries.
Outlining his message at a welcoming ceremony in Ecuador, Pope Francis stressed the need to protect the poor and the environment from exploitation and to foster dialogue among all sectors of society.
Children in traditional dress greeted Francis at Quito’s Mariscal Sucre airport, the wind blowing off his skullcap and whipping his white cassock as he descended from the plane following a 13-hour flight from Rome. He personally greeted and kissed several indigenous youths waiting for him.
In a speech in front of President Rafael Correa, Francis signaled some of the key themes for the visit, which will also take him to Bolivia and Paraguay: the need to care for society’s most margin- al, guarantee socially responsible economic development and defend the Earth against profit-atall-cost development that he says harms the poorest the most.
“From the peak of Chimborazo to the Pacific coast, from the Amazon rainforest to the Galapagos Islands, may you never lose the ability to thank God for what he has done and is doing for you,” he said. “May you never lose the ability to protect what is small and simple, to care for your children and your elderly who are the memory of your people, to have confidence in the young and to be constantly struck by the nobility of your people and the singular beauty of your country.”
It’s a message that will be keenly heard in Ecuador, a Pacific nation of 15 million people that is home to one of the world’s most species-diverse ecosystems as well as the Galapagos Islands, which inspired Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution. While oil has brought Ecuador unparalleled revenues in recent years, the accompa-
nying deforestation and pollution have stained its rain forests where many indigenous peoples live.
Falling world prices for oil and minerals, though, are now threatening to fray the generous social safety net woven by Correa, who has been buffeted for nearly a month by the most serious anti-government street protests of his nearly nine years in power. Along Francis’ motorcade route into Quito, some onlookers shouted “Correa out!” and gave a thumbsdown gesture.
Standing by Correa’s side at the airport, Francis pledged that the Catholic Church was ready to help meet the challenges of the day by encouraging a respect for people’s differences, “fostering dialogue and full participation so that the growth in progress and development already registered will ensure a better future for everyone, with particular concern for the most vulnerable of our brothers and sisters.”
Thousands lined the route that took Francis to the Vatican ambassador’s residence, many hopeful the pope would have a calming effect on the country’s tense political situation.
Travel agency worker Veronica Valdeon called the Argentine pontiff “a light in the darkness.”
“We are living difficult moments in our country, and Francis brings a bit of joy,” Valdeon said.
The “slum pope” chose to visit Ecuador, Bolivia and Paraguay specifically because they are among the poorest, most marginal nations of a region that claims 40 percent of the world’s Catholics. He’s skipping his homeland of Argentina, where he ministered to the poorest slum-dwellers while archbishop, to avoid entanglement in this year’s presidential election.
Crowds are expected to be huge. While the countries themselves are small, they are fervently Catholic: 79 percent of the population is Catholic in Ecuador, 77 percent in Bolivia and 89 percent in Paraguay, according to the Pew Research Center.
“Francis’ visit will be a huge boost to the priests of the Third World and theology of liberation,” said Xavier Albo, a fellow Jesuit who, like the pope, is 78. “He lives that theology through mercy, modesty and his obligation to the poor, the immigrants and the imprisoned.”