Pope Francis launched the first of two summertime trips to the Americas on Sunday, departing for Ecuador on a mission to reach and energize some of the hemisphere’s poorest, most marginalized -- and most Catholic -- populations.
Francis, the first pope from the Americas, intends for his now-familiar theme of expanding a “church for the poor” to be made real on his native continent.
He left Rome a little after 9 a.m. local time (midnight Saturday PDT), and was expected to land in Quito, the Ecuadoran capital, around 1 p.m. Pacific time.
In addition to Ecuador, he will travel to Bolivia and Paraguay over the next eight days.