Pope brings 'church for the poor' to Ecuador, Bolivia, Paraguay

Pope brings 'church for the poor' to Ecuador, Bolivia, Paraguay
Nicole Winfield, The Associated Press
Published Thursday, July 2, 2015 7:13AM EDT



VATICAN CITY -- Pope Francis is taking his "church for the poor" to three of South America's poorest and most peripheral countries, making a grueling, week-long trip that will showcase the pope at his unpredictable best: speaking his native Spanish on his home turf about issues closest to his heart.

Indigenous peoples will take centre stage during much of Francis' July 5-13 visit to Ecuador, Bolivia and Paraguay, while the Francis' own Jesuit order will be in the spotlight for its role in evangelizing the continent centuries ago and even today.

Environmental concerns in the Amazon, current-day border conflicts and the region's tortured history with authoritarian regimes are also high on the agenda as history's first Latin American pope returns to Spanish-speaking South America for the first time since he was elected two years ago.

"He knows this reality, because he worked so long with the bishops of Latin America and as head of the Jesuits in Argentina," said Daniel Gussmann, director of the Catholic Church's Caritas charity in Buenos Aires. "He knows these countries, and their problems with poverty and where much of the population has no access to land."

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