He told the British newspaper the Guardian that he hoped the invitation would make Paraguayans more tolerant.
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It was the pope’s second reference to the War of the Triple Alliance, a 19th-century conflict considered one of the deadliest in Latin American history and one that still informs Paraguayan identity.
While Christianity is under siege by secularism and evangelicals in much of the hemisphere, Paraguay remains overwhelmingly Catholic.
“When I hear someone give a grandiose speech”, he said, “I sometimes think to myself, ‘what a liar!'” Instead he added, “words are only important when there is truth behind them”.
“A more humane society is possible”, the Pope said, pointing to the experience of the Jesuit reductions. He fought back tears as he recounted how emotional the visit was for patients. The clinic’s director cried as he described how Francis kissed a terminally ill patient who was not strong enough to sit up. Elderly faithful periodically kneeled on the cement to pray. A leading Paraguay linguist, Miguel Angel Veron, says a friar wrote a Guarani-language catechism in 1588.
In Paraguay, they are disproportionately poor, having been forced off their traditional lands by ranchers. In 2002, the national census put the Guarani population at 89,000.
The elevated status shows Caacupe’s particular link to the Catholic Church and its pope.
Years ago, when he was archbishop of Buenos Aires, the pope shared religious celebrations there on a number of occasions with Paraguayan immigrants devoted to Our Lady of Miracles of Caacupe. Even wealthy Paraguayans of European lineage take pride in speaking Guarani, and Francis is likely to emulate the example of Pope John Paul II, who used that language to greet the faithful in 1988, the last time a pope visited.
Pope Francis is praising Paraguay’s women as the “most glorious women of America” because of how they helped rebuild the country after a devastating regional war in the 1860s that wiped out more than half the population, most of it male.
On Saturday morning, Francis visited the country’s most sacred religious site, the shrine of the Madonna of Caacupe.
The 56-year-old woman was one of a group of Argentines who walked to Caacupe from their homes in Clorinda for the pope’s Mass. “Argentina is his homeland”.
“Then and now, you found the strength not to let this land lose its bearings”. “God bless your perseverance”.
“You are keepers of the memory, the lifeblood of those who rebuilt the life, faith and dignity of your people“.
Francis has sought to encourage the poorest and most marginal during his three-nation trip, and his stop in Paraguay will showcase life in the country’s flood-prone shantytowns alongside the simple popular faith of its people.
“We wanted to come to Caacupe because Francis always talked about it when he was in Argentina”, said Jose Demetrio Barrionuevo, 50, who came with his wife and four children from Tucuman, Argentina.
During a rousing meeting with “representatives of civil society” – teachers, artists, business leaders, communications professionals, indigenous leaders and farmers – Pope Francis said he was impressed by the variety of groups and their commitment to working for the common good. “We are also proud of his humility, that he prefers to be with the poor and not the rich”.
Francis heads back to the Vatican on Sunday, July 12, after an open-air mass in Asuncion, which will be attended by Argentine President Cristina Kirchner.
Ricardo Pavetti, a member of the Academy of Paraguayan History, said the Jesuits were eventually expelled by the Spanish from Paraguay in the mid-18th century precisely because the missions were so economically and militarily successful. He did fly through Argentine airspace en route from Bolivia to Paraguay – the closest he’s been to home since his 2013 election.
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People wave to Pope Francis as he arrives to the Metropolitan Cathedral for evening prayers in Asuncion, Paraguay, Saturday, July 11, 2015.
