Pope
Francis' activities on Tuesday in the Ecuadoran capital
(Vatican
Radio) Pope Francis on Tuesday celebrates Mass for hundreds of thousands of
people gathered at Quito’s Bicentennial Park on the second full day of his
pastoral visit to Ecuador. Earlier the Pope met with the country’s Catholic
bishops at a closed door encounter in the park’s Congress Centre, as Philippa
Hitchen reports:
The
giant bicentennial park was inaugurated just two years ago on the site where
Quito’s old airport stood, the same site where the plane carrying another Pope
– John Paul II – touched down during his visit to Ecuador back in 1985.
The
park is one of the most ambitious green spaces in the city, as well as hosting
a Congress Centre for music festivals and major sporting events. It also
provided a perfect spot for Pope Francis’ private meeting with some 40 members
of Ecuador’s bishops conference before the celebration of Mass dedicated to the
themes of unity and evangelisation.
Later
on Tuesday afternoon, Pope Francis will visit Ecuador’s Pontifical Catholic
University, run by the Jesuits, for a meeting with students, teachers and
others involved in the vital mission of education. There the Pope is expected
to respond directly to comments and questions put to him by a young student, a
teacher and the rector of the university.
From
there Pope Francis moves onto the imposing church and monastery of St Francis,
the oldest religious building in the whole of Latin America. Built on the site
of a former palace and military headquarters of the indigenous Inca rulers, its
construction began in the mid-16th century, just a few years after the founding
of the city, but was not completed for about another hundred and fifty years.
The complex, which has been partially destroyed by earthquakes and rebuilt, now
houses over 3.500 works of colonial art, including a famous 18th century
sculpture known as the Virgin of Quito. In this august setting, the Pope will
meet with members of the city’s contemporary art world, as well as business
leaders, sporting and voluntary organisations and representatives of the
indigenous peoples living in Ecuador’s Amazon basin.
Finally,
before returning to the Apostolic Nunciature, Pope Francis will make a brief
private visit to the ornate Jesuit church in Quito, one of the most significant
works of Spanish Baroque architecture on the continent of Latin America.
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