Pope Visits Ecuador Slum to Express Love for Poor

Pope John Paul II visited a shantytown in Ecuador’s largest city today to express his “interest, solidarity and love” for the urban poor.

The Pope, who earlier met with Ecuadorean Indians and rural people, made an “urgent appeal” to governments of Latin America “to seek a greater social equilibrium and to show a greater solidarity” with the poor.

The crowd gave John Paul, 64, an enthusiastic welcome and applauded when he said: “The Pope, along with the bishops, wants to reiterate, once again, the church’s preferential option for the poor.”

He urged 30,000 residents of the shantytown to reject both exploitation and “extremist ideologies that only bring hatred, revenge and atheism.”

“Do not hesitate to say no to exploitation, wherever it comes from,” the Pope said.

The pontiff went to El Guasmo in an army helicopter on the seventh day of his Latin American tour and the last of his four-day visit to Ecuador.

El Guasmo is typical of the slums in Latin America that have sprung up to house masses of people leaving the countryside in hopes of finding work in big cities.

John Paul flies later today to Lima, Peru, a sprawling, decaying coastal city where poverty is widespread.

Peru, like the rest of the region, is having serious economic problems. In addition, the Peruvian government forces are engaged in a bloody battle with guerrillas of a Maoist-oriented movement known as Shining Path.

6,000 Rounded Up

Alcohol has been banned in Lima in preparation for the Pope’s four-day stay in Peru. Police said 6,000 men, women and children had been rounded up in what Interior Minister Oscar Brush Noel called an effort to “sweep the streets of delinquents” before the pontiff’s arrival.

On Wednesday night, police began scouring Lima for suspected terrorists, prostitutes and children who live on the streets. The street children beg from tourists and sing on buses for small change.

Municipal officials say the cleanup of Lima will cost more than $250,000, a large tab for a nation struggling with a $13-billion foreign debt and a combined unemployment and underemployment rate of about 50%.