Why Pope Francis is Urging Latinos to Embrace the Catholic Faith

Twenty-five delegates of the Federation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador, or CONAIE, attended an invitation-only gathering Tuesday evening that included business leaders, and cultural and sports figures.

Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle also remarked that though Pope Francis gets exhausted, he is easily reinvigorated whenever he sees the crowds who have come out to see him.

Mario Gutierrez, an environmental specialist in Bolivia with the Catholic charity Caritas, said the Morales government is poisoning indigenous communities and deforesting habitats important to them. Correa’s policies on drilling for oil and mining Amazon forests have incensed environmentalists, and the Pope spoke forcefully in Ecuador on the importance of preserving the country’s resources. The Pope will now fly to La Paz, Bolivia.

Francis chose to celebrate his final Mass in Ecuador in Quito’s Bicentennial Park – an apt location given that Ecuador was where the first cries of independence against Spanish rule rose up in Latin America in 1809.

The president recalled how the Catholic Church many times in the past was on the side of the oppressors of Bolivia’s people, three-fourths of whom are of are indigenous origin.

Before boarding the Boliviana de Aviacion plane, the pope hugged and blessed dozens of children who were dressed in traditional Andean garb.

Morales is never one to hide his opinions: When he met in 2010 with Francis’ predecessor, Benedict XVI, he gave him a letter suggesting the church abolish celibacy and allow women to be priests.

The pope was flying to high-altitude La Paz, Bolivia, where oxygen tanks are kept at the airport for arriving passengers who may struggle with the thin air. The highland city sits at an elevation of almost 2 1/2 miles (4,000 meters) above sea level. It is this conviction – that “we have an vast treasure to share” which “grows stronger from being shared” – that gives rise to “the joy of evangelizing”, he said. Many have been camping out or traveling extreme distances to chance an in-person view of the pope.

Ecuador highlights, possibly more than any other country in the world, the inherent difficulties within the pope’s recent environmental encyclical.

People walk near a sign with the image of Pope Francis in El Alto, Bolivia, Tuesday, July 7, 2015.

“Do not fall into a spiritual Alzheimer’s, do not forget!” He then approached a statue of the virgin of El Quinche, pausing to pray. It’s part of a larger strategy, experts say, to drive drifting Catholics back into the fold and echo the themes of social justice that have been a benchmark of Francis’ papacy.

Before departing Quito, Francis visited a home for the elderly run by nuns from the order established by Mother Teresa of Calcutta. Numerous residents are in wheelchairs.

Pope Francis has emerged from the nunciature in Quito where he spent the night.

Tens of thousands of people lined the route from the airport, at times rushing police to touch the vehicle and throw flower petals before it.

Instead of reprimanding the younglings, Vatican bodyguards and Ecuadorian police picked up kids so Francis could kiss and bless them. The Pontiff is visiting Ecuador, Bolivia and Paraguay on the occasion of his Apostolic trip from July 5 to July 12.

Despite his busy schedule, the pope has so far displayed impressive energy at all his public events in South America. He’ll be heading there later today.

The Argentine-born pontiff was spending his last few hours at a home for the elderly in Ecuador’s highland capital Quito and a shrine just outside the city where he was to meet priests, nuns and seminarians.

Pope Francis has praised Bolivia for taking important steps to include the poor and the marginalized in its political and economic life, but insists that the Catholic Church also has a “prophetic” role to play in society.

The pope will spend the rest of his Bolivian stay in Santa Cruz, where he will headline another summit of grassroots groups and visit with inmates at the notoriously violent Palmasola prison.