Pope to affirm the value and dignity of the poor during his visit

(Vatican Radio) As Pope Francis’ apostolic journey to Latin America begins to unfold, the week-long programme that takes the Pope from Ecuador to Bolivia to Paraguay will offer countless occasions for information, reflection, inspiration.

Meanwhile we look ahead, speaking to people on the ground and to others who have been to the places the Pope is scheduled to visit.

Like Monsignor Peter Fleetwood, a priest from the Liverpool Archdiocese who has travelled extensively in Latin America and who says the Pope’s respect and regard for the poor and the marginalized and his desire to be with “real people” is an enormously important aspect of his message and his pontificate as well as being a central theme of this journey …

Listen: 

Remembering his own journey to Paraguay in the 1990s, Monsignor Fleetwood recounts a series of experiences in a nation that he describes as having a “popular, or democratic culture”.

“They’re not very impressed by people waving money around: they just like ordinariness, being down to earth – I think that’s a lot of what Pope Francis likes to bring with him as a Latin American to wherever he goes” he says.

Commenting on the fact that the Pope has chosen to travel to Latin America starting with the “peripheries” (as the three nations he is visiting are amongst the poorest), Monsignor Fleetwood points out that “where he goes, people who have previously felt ‘nobody in his position has ever spoken to me before’, suddenly think: ‘I matter to that man, my family matters, my country matters’”.

Although these people may feel they are not very significant in the global picture, Mons. Fleetwood says,  the Pope makes them feel they do matter because they are children of God.

He is saying to the people who await him: “You are never forgotten, you are always remembered, you may not see your name in lights when it comes to the rich countries of the world, but as far as the Pope’s concerned: you are there and you are in my prayers.” 

“It means a lot if you are living far from the so-called center of things if the man in charge turns left on the way into town and goes to a little shanty town and says he wants to meet the real people – good for him!” Mons. Fleetwood says.    

(from Vatican Radio)

(Vatican Radio) As Pope Francis’ apostolic journey to Latin America begins to unfold, the week-long programme that takes the Pope from Ecuador to Bolivia to Paraguay will offer countless occasions for information, reflection, inspiration.

Meanwhile we look ahead, speaking to people on the ground and to others who have been to the places the Pope is scheduled to visit.

Like Monsignor Peter Fleetwood, a priest from the Liverpool Archdiocese who has travelled extensively in Latin America and who says the Pope’s respect and regard for the poor and the marginalized and his desire to be with “real people” is an enormously important aspect of his message and his pontificate as well as being a central theme of this journey …

Listen: 

Remembering his own journey to Paraguay in the 1990s, Monsignor Fleetwood recounts a series of experiences in a nation that he describes as having a “popular, or democratic culture”.

“They’re not very impressed by people waving money around: they just like ordinariness, being down to earth – I think that’s a lot of what Pope Francis likes to bring with him as a Latin American to wherever he goes” he says.

Commenting on the fact that the Pope has chosen to travel to Latin America starting with the “peripheries” (as the three nations he is visiting are amongst the poorest), Monsignor Fleetwood points out that “where he goes, people who have previously felt ‘nobody in his position has ever spoken to me before’, suddenly think: ‘I matter to that man, my family matters, my country matters’”.

Although these people may feel they are not very significant in the global picture, Mons. Fleetwood says,  the Pope makes them feel they do matter because they are children of God.

He is saying to the people who await him: “You are never forgotten, you are always remembered, you may not see your name in lights when it comes to the rich countries of the world, but as far as the Pope’s concerned: you are there and you are in my prayers.” 

“It means a lot if you are living far from the so-called center of things if the man in charge turns left on the way into town and goes to a little shanty town and says he wants to meet the real people – good for him!” Mons. Fleetwood says.    

(from Vatican Radio)