His arrival was scheduled at 4:15 p.m. local time in the Andine country and the Pontiff landed at the worldwide airport of El Alto, where the country prepared the welcoming ceremony with hymns, military honors, presentation of the delegations, a speech by the President Evo Morales, another speech by an Aymara Indian known for his anti-imperialist and socialist stands and ended with a blessing from Pope Francis to Bolivians. Bolivia, one of South America’s poorest nations, is the second of three countries Francis will be visiting on his tour of the continent.
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Pope Francis met with Ecuadoran bishops before the mass. Later in the day, he will visit the Catholic University before a meeting with civil society groups, including indigenous populations opposed to Correa.
Morales came to power championing Bolivia’s 36 indigenous groups and enshrined their rights in the constitution, and under his leadership Bolivia’s economy has boomed thanks to high prices for its natural gas and minerals.
Environmental issues have been contentious for much of President Rafael Correa’s eight-year-old administration.
Francis started his last full day in Ecuador by saying an open-air Mass for almost a million people on the grounds of a ex- airport in the capital, Quito.
While he did not specifically mention climate change or its causes, he quoted often from the encyclical, which said there was a “very solid scientific consensus” on global warming and its human causes. He said that Catholics should work as “builders of peace in a world divided by war and individualism”, and they should rely on their common Catholic values to work towards common hopes and ideals.
He said: “There was no shortage of conviction or strength in that cry for freedom which arose a little more than 200 years ago”. The rest of Francis’s stay will be in Santa Cruz.
The Mass featured readings in Quichua, the native language mostly spoken in Ecuador, and Ecuadorean vestments for the pope.
During his homily at a park in Quito, Francis said: “Evangelization doesn’t consist of proselytizing”.
“It’s always surprising what the Pope can do at his age”, Lombardi added, noting that several people in the papal entourage woke with headaches on Monday due to altitude sickness, but the Pope was fine.
Morales has frequently clashed with the Catholic Church though relations warmed when Francis became pope in 2013. “The word of God tells us that, in the history of Israel, the judges, the prophets and the kings are God’s gifts to his people, to bring them his tenderness and mercy”.
It was a brief but poignant moment, given Francis’ own experience with the right-wing military dictatorship in Argentina.
“Do not refuse to share, do not hesitate to give, do not lock yourself up in convenience”, it continued.
A water-logged crowd estimated by officials at half a million awaits the pope at Quito’s Bicentennial Park. Local websites and some media reported that the presidential motorcade, which followed Francis into the city upon his arrival, was booed.
A 59-year-old seafood vendor, Abel Gualoto, rubbed his cold hands and said he didn’t mind the discomfort. The pope later said he would bless the country so that “it has no differences”. The government of Bolivian President Evo Morales, an indigenous former grower of coca leaves, has said it will offer leaves and tea to the pope – who, at age 78 and missing part of a lung, might be suffering – but the Vatican has not said whether he will accept.
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On Tuesday, Francis will return to the city’s historic center to pray at the famed 18th century Church of the Society of Jesus, a gilded masterpiece of Spanish Baroque that is is on UNESCO’s world patrimony list and is named for Francis’ Jesuit order.
