Outside the Vatican ambassador's residence in Ecuador, Pope Francis began his second day in the poverty-stricken country by hugging indigenous children who were able to sneak through a fence.
Instead of reprimanding the younglings, Vatican bodyguards and Ecuadorian police picked up kids so Francis could kiss and bless them. Francis's hope is that people met throughout his week-long Latin American tour will be as welcoming, and open to the church's evolving messages on poverty, environmentalism, and evangelization.
"The tapping on natural resources, which are so abundant in Ecuador, must not be concerned with short-term benefits, Francis told a group of society leaders on Tuesday. "As stewards of these riches which we have received, we have an obligation towards society as a whole, and toward future generations." He called for increased protection of the Amazon rainforest by rebuking oil exploration for profit.
Francis's words come a month after specifically citing deforestation in "Laudato Si," - or "Praise Be to You" - the environmental encyclical which critiqued consumerism and called for swift action on climate change. The most vulnerable people, Francis said, are the world's poorest people who are being disregarded.
From July 5 - 13, the papal is taking his "church of the poor" to three of South America's depraved countries; Ecuador, Bolivia, and Paraguay. The plan is to visit areas hardest hit by poverty and crime, including Paraguay's flood-prone town Banda Norte and Bolivia's infamous Palmasola prison.
Francis spent his final day in Ecuador speaking with business leaders about the dangers of exploiting the poor, and how the power of the Roman Catholic Church - which four out of 10 people in the region follow - can help solve social problems.
"We, too, encounter daily a world torn apart by wars and violence, but it is precisely this troubled world into which Jesus sends us," Francis said during Tuesday's second homily, adding that "we must respond by taking up the cry of Jesus and accepting the grace and challenge of being builders of unity."
The pope is schedule to fly to Bolivia midday Wednesday when he will meet with Bolivian President Evo Morales in La Paz, though it will be brief due to the town's 13,120-foot elevation. The rest of Francis's stay will be in Santa Cruz.
Organizers in Paraguay - which border the pope's native Argentina - expect hundreds of thousands to attend Mass on Saturday at the Caacupe Marian shire, followed by Sunday Mass in the capital of Asuncion.
Papa Road, a computer game where Francis dodges potholes in his "popemobile," was even made to highlight Asuncion's dilapidated streets, and government's ineffectiveness in fixing them until the pope announced his visit.
It is Francis's first to South America since winning the papacy two years ago.
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