POPE-LATAM/SLUM Pope Francis visits slum in Paraguay on last day of Latam trip

Record ID: 147514

  • Title: POPE-LATAM/SLUM Pope Francis visits slum in Paraguay on last day of Latam trip
  • Date: 12th July 2015
  • Summary: VARIOUS OF THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE WAITING FOR POPE IN FIELD CHILD IN CROWD
  • Embargoed: 27th July 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Paraguay
  • Country: Paraguay
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVAA3BG7WV1C1710GL3SG1ST6KVT
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Pope Francis has urged people living in a flood-prone shantytown in Paraguay to stay united in the struggle for better living and working conditions.
    The message came on Sunday (July 12) as the pontiff wrapped up his three-country tour of South America.
    Francis was shown art work created by the slum children and listened to speeches from people telling harrowing tales of life in Banado Norte, a warren of shacks not far from downtown Asuncion that are home to about 100,000 people, many of whom are squatting on city land after being forced from their farms.
    But the pope sat smiling and looking relaxed as he listened to the speakers.
    The Argentine pontiff has made defending the poor a major theme of his "homecoming" trip, which also took him to Ecuador and Bolivia, ranked among Latin America's poorest countries.
    In Banado Norte, murals adorned the walls of houses made of corrugated metal, wood and cement blocks. One of them read: "Yes to life, no to drugs, fight for change."
    Francis regularly visited slums in Buenos Aires, the Argentine capital, when he was archbishop and has visited some of Rome's poorer neighbourhoods.
    From Banado Norte, the pope went to hold a mass for more than a million people in a disused air base. Argentine President Cristina Fernandez flew in to attend the mass along with Paraguayan President Horacio Cartes.
    On his trip, Francis used two major speeches to excoriate unbridled capitalism and champion the rights of the poor. He has also warned of irreparable damage to the planet.
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