Paraguay: Pope Francis greeted by President Cartes on arrival to Asuncion

Pope Francis was greeted with a welcome ceremony and by President of Paraguay Horacio Cartes on his arrival to Asuncion's Silvio Pettirossi International Airport, Friday. The Bishop of Rome is on the third leg of his three-country tour of South America having previously visited Ecuador and Bolivia. Francis and Cartes listened to a choir that sang in indigenous languages Ache and Guarani, as well as Spanish. During his visit to Bolivia he spoke about the Church's mistreatment of the Americas' indigenous peoples at a speech in Santa Cruz in front of Bolivian President Evo Morales who had gifted the head of the Roman Catholic Church a crucifix carved into a wooden hammer and sickle in La Paz on Wednesday. Paraguay has one of the largest Catholic populations on the continent, so turnout for the Pope's visit to country is expected to be high, especially given reports that hundreds of thousands of Argentines have travelled to the country to see the pontiff.