The honeymoon, as it were, is apparently over.
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A column by a papal biographer, Sergio Rubin, in Clarin, the newspaper with the largest circulation in the pope’s home country of Argentina, proclaimed the Chile trip his worst overseas visit in the almost five years since his election. “One celebrated apparently on a whim in an airplane whose celebrant can not even be sure if parties are validly baptized”.
Carlo Ciuffardi Elorriaga, 39, and Paula Podest Ruiz, 41 met ten years ago on a flight and had been together ever since.
The pope may be infallible, but apparently he’s not immune to flat tires.
The pope didn’t lose a beat, using the meeting and subsequent speech to Peruvian authorities to denounce corruption as a “social virus” that infects all aspects of life and must be combatted.
Asking those present to pray for him, Pope Francis concluded, saying: “I am grateful for the presence of so many pilgrims from the brother nations, Bolivia, Peru, and please don’t be jealous, but especially Argentineans, because Argentina is my homeland”.
Pope Francis issued a ringing defense of the people and the environment of the Amazon on Friday, saying big business and “consumerist greed” could not be allowed to destroy a natural habitat vital for the entire planet.
Francis travelled Saturday to an area of northern Peru that is frequently affected by El Nino storms and was hit past year by flooding that killed more than 150 people and destroyed hundreds of thousands of homes. “Let us be attentive to the lack of shelter, land and employment experienced by so many families”, he said at his final Mass at Lobito beach in Iquique.
Patricio Navia, political science professor at Diego Portales University in Santiago, said Francis had gone much further than Chilean bishops in acknowledging the sexual abuse scandal, which many Chileans appreciated.
Canon lawyer Ed Peters, a consultor on the Vatican high court but a frequent critic of Francis, questioned whether a host of church laws were followed, including the requirement that the couple undergo pastoral counseling and that the church have evidence that there were no obstacles to the marriage.
The document was signed by Pope Francis, the couple and the witness. Father Hipolito Puricaza Sernaque, secretary-general of the diocesan Caritas office, said people hope the pope’s words during his trip will “soften the hearts of those responsible for the (post-flood) reconstruction, bring hope and renew our faith in God”. More than 100 women died in eerily similar killings in the city across from El Paso, Texas, starting in 1993, although the serial or copycat nature of them tapered off a decade later.
Francis also referred to the recent violence that has flared in Araucania, Chile’s poorest region, and beyond.
Dramatic footage shared by the BBC shows the Pope’s vehicle suddenly swerving to avoid hitting the woman who is seen being thrown off a horseback.
Studies confirm that contamination from mining is already having an impact on the health of many living in the Amazon.
“Papa Francisco!” people chanted later.
After celebrating Mass for 200,000 people on the Pacific oceanside, Francis boarded his popemobile and reached out to residents of the 75-year-old neighbourhood, which was devastated last year by flooding from an intense El Nino weather phenomenon. Francis’ decision to carry out wedding mid-air was about sending a message: that the tick box mentality must not frustrates the Church’s mission. He said their rights, cultures, languages and traditions must be respected and recovered.
Pope Francis was warmly received in the Patio of Honor of the Government Palace of Lima.
Pope Francis with this action proved that he is definitely a kind gentleman and fit to be the religious head of state of Christians all around the world.
One of the leaders is Hector Sueyo.
He told them to laugh in their community, but never “at the community or at others”, and to be “on guard against people so important that they have forgotten to smile in their lives”.
“When we come here…. we need to learn from you” how to benefit from the rainforest without causing its destruction.
Pope Francis visited the Government Palace in Lima Friday afternoon, emphasizing numerous issues he addressed earlier in the day when he was in Puerto Maldonado, in the Madre de Dios region.
The pontiff gave the bride a white rosary and the groom a black rosary.
But the Pope also faced protests and a level of hostility unheard of in modern times for a papal visit.
He expressed hope that the pope might act as a mediator in the push to encourage the government to return his people’s land.
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In his speech, Francis called for special protections for these isolated groups, “the most vulnerable of the vulnerable”.
