Pope visits Paraguayan slum dwellers
July 12, 2015
Pope Francis wrapped up his three-country tour of South America on Sunday by celebrating Mass for over 1 million faithful, including the presidents of Paraguay and Argentina, Horacio Cartes and Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, respectively, at a disused air base outside of the Paraguayan capital of Asuncion.
The altar for the occasion was a colorful construction made with 32,000 ears of corn, pumpkins, coconuts, and other regional produce. In his sermon, Francis touched on what became the refrain of his South American tour, which also included stops in Ecuador and Bolivia, by calling on people and governments to turn away from "the path of selfishness, conflict, division, and superiority" and defend the rights of the poor.
The pope spent the earlier part of the day on Sunday in the Banado Norte slum in Asuncion, home to about 100,000 people living in shacks after being forced from their farms.
"Our expulsion from the countryside, the high prices of land and housing in the city, couple with low incomes…are the reasons we find ourselves in the 'Banado,'" Maria Garcia, a local organizer, told the pope, explaining that residents are hoping to gain title deeds to their homes.
The pontiff told residents he could not have left Paraguay without "spending some time with you, here on your land," drawing a wave of cheers from the crowd who came out to greet him. He prayed with residents in a chapel set up on the shantytown and encouraged them to stay united in their struggle for better living conditions.
Francis excoriates capitalism
Since becoming pope, Francis has made a point of visiting Rome's poorest neighborhoods and was well known for his visits to slums in Buenos Aires when he was archbishop of the Argentine capital.
The visit to Banada Norte brought extra attention to his call on Saturday for countries to shun unbridled capitalism and consumerism, an economic model he said exists to "sacrifice human lives on the altar of money and profit" and creates "the idolatry of money and the dictatorship of an impersonal economy lacking a truly human purpose."
es/sms (Reuters, AP)