Pope’s 2nd full day in Ecuador filled with meetings, Mass

Pope Francis went on to celebrates a Mass for families in Guayaquil Samanes Park. Those services are not a type of alms, but rather a genuine “social debt” with respect to the institution of the family, which contributes so greatly to the common good.

Asked about the passage, the Vatican spokesman said the pope was not referring to specific controversies but that he wanted the synod to find ways “to help people move from a situation of sin to a situation of grace”.

The Mass with the Holy Father was celebrated in Ecuador’s Los Samanes Park in Guayaquil, the country’s largest city, with 1 million people in attendance, according to estimates.

Firefighters sprayed the crowd with water to keep them cool amid punishing heat as many shielded themselves from the sun with umbrellas. Many had camped out all night to secure a place at the park in Guayaquil, some 250 miles southwest of Quito on the Pacific Ocean.

The highlight of the encounter will likely be his reunion with the Rev. Francisco Cortes, a Jesuit affectionately known as “Padre Paquito”, to whom the Argentina-born pope, then the Rev. Jorge Mario Bergoglio, entrusted his seminarians on study trips to Ecuador years ago.

After Ecuador, the pope heads to Bolivia and Paraguay on a tour encompassing three of the region’s poorest and smallest countries.

The pope’s last visit to South America was a triumphant trip to Brazil in 2013 that culminated with three million people gathering along Copacabana beach in Rio de Janeiro for a mass at the end of a Catholic youth festival.

Since becoming pope Francis has frequently mentioned families in his sermons, including so-called “non-traditional” families such as parents who are divorced or homosexual. “Given the attacks that are coming from the Republican Party around this and also the fossil-fuel interests in the United States, it was a particularly courageous decision to invite me here”, Klein said at a press conference. “For the first time, I have known a pope”.

“I won’t charge you anything, but please pray for me”, Francis quipped.

He will not stop by his native Argentina, although up to a million of his countrymen are expected to cross into neighboring Paraguay to attend his open-air masses there. The pope is making an eight-day trip to Ecuador, Bolivia and Paraguay.

Pope Francis caresses a baby as he celebrates a mass where he bestowed the Pallium, a woolen shawl s …

Pope Francis centered his remarks on St. John’s Gospel account of the Wedding at Cana, which was read during the Mass. The scene recounts Mary telling Christ that their hosts have run out of wine, to which he responds that it is not yet “his hour”: a reference to his forthcoming passion.

“The family is the nearest hospital, the first school for the young, the best home for the elderly,” Francis preached.

This week, Francis is taking the encyclical message on the road to Latin America, which should give an indication about who his enemies on climate are and how he plans to thump for climate change overseas despite the fact that his 24,000-kilometer journey leaves a hefty carbon footprint.

In the evening, Francis flew back to Quito and met with leftist President Rafael Correa at the presidential palace, specially adorned with 120,000 roses, before blessing those gathered in the square below.

Correa, who spoke before Francis, echoed the pope’s concerns about the “perverse” global economic system, accusing the world’s rich countries of unfairly exploiting the developing world’s resources without reciprocating with technology transfers. In Iowa last week, Catholic leaders called on GOP candidates to embrace the words of the encyclical on climate and income disparity with as much vigor as they have in previous fights against gay marriage and abortion.

But today, many families are suffering, the Pope said.

The decrease has come as evangelical churches have attracted huge numbers of followers, many of whom are indigenous people disenchanted by a lack of attention from the Catholic hierarchy.