Pope: Corruption is gangrene of people
Visit to slum
Francis has spent much of the past week—and before that much of his pontificate—railing about the injustices of the global capitalist system that he says idolizes money over people, demanding instead a new economic model where the Earth’s resources are distributed equally among all.
On Sunday, the Pope will put into practice his insistence that the world’s poor not be left on the margins of society by visiting a slum outside Asuncion on the final day of his three-country South American tour.
In Banado Norte, Francis will see people living in shacks made of plywood and corrugated metal, and quite possibly pigs rummaging through garbage searching for leftovers.
Authorities estimate that about 15,000 families there live in extreme poverty, periodically exacerbated when heavy rains burst the banks of the nearby Paraguay River, turning dirt roads to impassable pools of mud.
For weeks, residents in the area and authorities have been preparing for the visit, doing everything from draining some of the roads to making rosaries to give the Pope as gifts.
Article continues after this advertisementOffer of solidarity
Article continues after this advertisementBut Francis is expected to offer them his solidarity and encouragement, after having urged their leaders to do more to take their plight into account in making decisions about development and social welfare.
After touring Banado Norte, Francis will celebrate an open-air Mass to be attended by Argentine President Cristina Kirchner in a tropical field outside Asuncion. He will then meet with young people before returning to Rome.
Cuba in September
After visiting Ecuador and Bolivia, Francis arrived on Friday in Paraguay, where 90 percent of the population is Catholic, to begin the final leg of his eight-day tour.
Ecuador, Bolivia and Paraguay are predominantly Catholic and have been marked by a long history of poverty and inequality, especially afflicting indigenous populations.
The Pope will return to Latin America in September, when he travels to Cuba before heading to the United States.
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