Paraguayans travel to Asuncion for papal visit

(Vatican Radio) On Friday evening Pope Francis travels to Asuncion, the capital of Paraguay for the third and final phase of his pastoral visit to Latin America. Around one third of the country’s population of six million people live in the bustling port city located on the left bank of the Paraguay river.

Following his arrival as Asuncion’s international airport, the Pope will have a private meeting with president Horacio Manuel Cartes Jara before addressing the nation’s political and diplomatic authorities in the garden of the presidential palace.

Over the weekend, Pope Francis will then spend time with ordinary people in Paraguay, visiting a children’s hospital, a slum area and the Marian shrine of Caacupé, the spiritual heart of the overwhelmingly Catholic country.

Carla from the United States is a volunteer with the peace corps in Paraguay – she talked to our correspondent in Paraguay, Linda Bordoni, about the way people are preparing for the papal visit

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Carla serves in the agricultural sector of the peace corps, working with farming families on improving soil quality to improve crop yields. She notes that Paraguay is a largely agricultural country with most people outside the capital living in rural areas.

She says people are very excited about the papal visit to their nation and delighted by his decision to visit the shrine at Caacupé which she describes as a very sacred and very special place for Paraguayans. She says huge numbers of people - including one and a half million from the surrounding countries - are making the pilgrimage to Asuncion, spending precious time and money to be come and see the Pope in person