{UAH} Pope to leave a very strong impact on Latin America!

Pope Francis will be quitting Bolivia tomorrow (Friday 10/07/2015 ) for Paraguay after

visiting a prison and meeting with the bishops of Bolivia.

He has been a real triumphant super star in Bolivia where he has been mobbed and very madly

acclaimed and cheered by faithful wherever he has been. His day started with Mass celebrated

in a fully packed Christ the Redeemer's Square in Santa Cruz where more than a million people

had already assembled before the Pope arrived. The Square is dominated by a historical statue

of Christ which is now part of the nation's cherished treasures. The Pope arrived amid wild cheers

and ululations. He soon started his Mass whose readings were carried our in various indigenous languages.

His sermon, which was received with cheers almost throughout, was axed on the day's text whjich records

Christ feeding thousands with just five loaves and two fish. According to Pope Francis this showed how Christ

can accomplish infinite deeds by just using a few things, and his humility. The Church and the faithful can also do much for the hungry, the suffering, etc.. through simple humility. The Pope went on at length to exploit this

scriptural passage to expose many things that lack in society.

Immediately after Mass the Archbishop of Santa Cruz thanked the Pope for the Mass and officially extended to him

the people's welcome to their diocese and to Bolivia. He further thanked him for the very excellent work done

since his elevation to the pontificate. He commended the recent encyclical on environment and appreciated his

action on contacting the entire Catholic world about family issues in view of the Synod on Family. Amid very wild

cheers the Archbishop thanked the Pope for his strong stand on the promotion of social justice for all peoples of

the world regardless of their faith, creed, colour, etc..

The Pope, having thanked the Archbishop for his good words, formally inaugrated the preparatory sessions for the

forthcoming Seventh National Eucharistic Congress to be held in the country in the near future under the theme of the

evangelization of the Latin American continent. He then gave the final blessing and thanked the great crowds for turning up in such big numbers. He also requested them to pray for him. The he greeted the President of bolivia who with his entire cabinet participated in the service.

Later in the afternoon Pope Francis met the priests, religious, seminarians and all those attached to the service of the Church. A number of bishops were also present. He arrived to thuderous cheers from the thousands who had assembled at the venue. He was formally welcomed by the Bishop in-charge of the clergy with the Bolivian episcopal conference who outlined before the Pope an apparaisal of their action and daily challenges. he requested the Pope to accompany them both morally and spiritually. Then, in turn, a seminarian, a nun, and a priest took to the floor to bear testimony to what their daily experience brings to them. The pope listened very carefully to their very relevant words.

And when he was requested to give a word to the vast audience he thanked the three speakers and advised against

displaying any kind of spirit of indifference that lets things come and pass away like that without attracting any concern.

He admonished them of the risk of adopting an indifferent attitude when a solution could easily be found thru Christian means.

There were wild cheers mingled with some tears when the Pope was going away. And he was again mobbed by the

religious. One priest held his cassock and tried to pull him back!!!

Shortly after, moving in his popemobile through streets jammed with cheering people, the Pope arrived to his next venue. That's the vast hall where he was to meet the world popular social movements that had been holding a forum which he was to close that afternoon. Thousands of people, including the President of Bolivia and many top government officials were also present. Some three forumists were designated to give an outline of their projects.

They put emphasis on fighting against racialism, political oppression, colonialism in form of economic exploitation, the walls of exclusion and exploitation, and the struggle to see to it that science is at the service of the entire humanity and not for a few. Then the President of Bolivia was requested to give his opinion on various subjects. He spoke fro almost forty-five minutes outlining his government's action against all the ills that torment Latin america in general and Bolivia in particular. He underlined his effort in fighting for hios people's fundamental rights and against all colonialisms. He concluded by praising Pope Francis adding that for the first time he felt we had a Pope!

The Pope was announced as the next and last speaker. There was a lot of commotion in the hall as all gave a standing ovation to His Holiness before he even began his intervention. And thousands of cameras flashed at him.

His opening words were an appeal to God to listen to the cries of the poor people! He then went on to claim for change in all systems in order to get rid of poverty and economic marginalization especially in poor countries. He affirmed that things didn't go well everywhere, there was exploitation, there were wars everywhere and violence and terrorist attacks in many parts of the world!  He called for a positive change that would involve everyone's participation

and encouraged the hall not to underestimate themselves but get ready for action! Everyone must have a portion of land where to cultivate, a house to live in, and a job to do! He requested the Church to stand very firmly on the side of the oppressed! He gave the following proposals that would be necessary to help effect change:

1- Let's all say NO to the economy that turns humans into slaves. And Nobody should accept corruption through the

     economy. Say NO to any type of exclusion. Dignity prosperity were the necessary instruments for human progress.

      And that work was a right for every citizen.

2- Justice in the world  and the right to independence.

     The fight against corruption and drug traffic.  Here the Pope quickly referred to the statement of African bishops

      who gave an outline of economic colonialism which reduces the dignity of a country to mere productive machines

      of exploitation that deny the poor countries to develop from the agriculture point of view..

      It was at his instance that the Pope referred to a certain kind of colonialism in the past at the time the Americas

     were discovered. He insisted religion played a part in it. And on a surprise note he pronounced an apology for the

      Amerindians for the torture, persecution, etc... they endured. There was a very very noisy applause in the hall and

      all people rose up to give a standing ovation to the Pope!!!

3- Defence ot earth and our water expanses. The Pope was upset by the summit conferences on this subject where         no tangible result was shown! He appealed on people to mobilize in order to defend the earth and its water

     expanses. He requested his listeners in the hall to read his encyclical on the matter  LAUDATO SI.

 

At the end of his intervention the Pope received mighty cheers for several minutes. And a lady knelt down to hand him a miner's helmet which he placed on his head!!!

He is indeed helping Latin America and the whole world to find good solutions to their multitudes of problems!

Dr G.H. Kkolokolo ( Paris / France )