clothes in a fast-food restaurant in
the Bolivian city of Santa Cruz
before leading an open-air Mass
before an audience of hundreds of
thousands.
The famously unpretentious Pope used his
address to encourage Bolivian Catholics to
reject consumerism.
He told them the economic system
excluded people and created barriers.
The Pope will now travel to Paraguay, the
third and final country on his tour of
South America.
On Thursday Pope Francis rode through
the streets of Santa Cruz for about an
hour.
The Burger King restaurant had been
booked by the Pope's organisers and
curtained off in advance so he could
change into his religious vestments before
the Mass.
It reopened later in the day for business
but with the altar and throne used in the
Mass still inside.
During his sermon he denounced what he
said was a "mentality in which everything
has a price, everything can be bought (...)
making room only for a select few".
Later in a long speech to civic leaders,
Pope Francis apologised for the actions of
the Catholic Church against indigenous
peoples during the conquest and
colonisation of the Americas.
He said he humbly begged for forgiveness
for the crimes that were committed.
Comments