SOUTH AMERICA
The Guardian (UK)
Stephanie Kirchgaessner in Rome, Laurence Blair in Asunción, and Uki Goñi in Buenos Aires
Friday 3 July 2015
Pope Francis is expected to be confronted by a host of thorny issues when he touches down in Quito, Ecuador on Sunday to begin a seven-day tour of South America, including a contentious case involving a 10-year-old rape victim in Paraguay who has been refused access to an abortion.
The pope is sure to be asked by the Holy See’s traveling press corp to weigh in on the case – which has been condemned by human rights experts – as well as other issues that he has not spoken publicly about, such as the supreme court decision this month that legalised gay marriage across the
The popular Argentinean pontiff will be greeted like a rock star during his tour of Ecuador, Bolivia and Paraguay. The trip is being seen as a triumphal homecoming of sorts for the pope, who is making his first return to the region since his visit to Brazil in 2013. That trip, in which Francis visited poverty-stricken favelas, was originally planned for his predecessor, Pope Benedict. …
In Paraguay, Francis will face a wholly different political climate. Relations between Francis’s Vatican and the local church in Paraguay were complicated after Francis sacked a local bishop in 2014 who was accused of covering up for sexual abuse of one of his priests. At the time, the departure of Bishop Rogelio Livieres Plano was blamed on “serious pastoral reasons” – and not a sex abuse cover-up – and the bishop claimed that his dismissal was a case of “ideological persecution” because of his opposition to liberation theology, a leftist Catholic theology that emphasises care and activism on behalf of the poor.
The other big question in Paraguay is how Francis will respond to a controversy surrounding the 10-year-old rape victim, who was denied an abortion after allegedly being raped by her step-father and despite the pleas of her mother for a medical intervention. The case has enraged pro-choice activists in Paraguay and abroad, and sparked a national debate about child abuse and the handling of underage pregnancies. Although some UN experts have declared the girl’s life to be in danger because of the pregnancy, few expect the Catholic country’s laws to change.
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