Pope Francis visits Ecuador

Yahoo has posted an iconic photo of Pope Francis and Ecuadorian Presidente Rafael Correa smiling and greeting folks at Quito International Airport yesterday, July 5, 2015.

Su Santidad and El Supremo....

https://es-us.noticias.yahoo.com/fotos/ … 48008.html

If Yahoo has moved the photo, google:

yahoo photos Ecuador president Rafael Correa stands next to pope francis

                                                                           .

cccmedia wrote:

Yahoo has posted an iconic photo of Pope Francis and Ecuadorian Presidente Rafael Correa smiling and greeting folks at Quito International Airport yesterday, July 5, 2015.

Su Santidad and El Supremo....

https://es-us.noticias.yahoo.com/fotos/ … 48008.html

If Yahoo has moved the photo, google:

yahoo photos Ecuador president Rafael Correa stands next to pope francis

                                                                           .

Wow. Not the pic I was expecting, but very nice just the same.

Very nice thanks. Watched some of the videos. It was great with the wind blowing his robes all over the place and losing his little cap. Am Catholic and can't remember what you call it.

My Near-Brush With Greatness

     - or -

How I Survived the Papal Greeting Party in Quito


I was coming out of a Quito restaurant at 6 this evening on my street, Garcia Moreno, about four blocks from my condo in Centro Histórico.  I asked two hotel doormen what was the hubbub going on at the corner (Garcia Moreno and Mejia).

They said the Pope would be arriving at 7.  Mejia was marked off with 5-foot-high metal barricades manned by police, and a big crowd was already gathering.  By big I mean every inch of the street was filled within 30 yards of the intersection.

As we waited for Su Santidad's arrival, the crowd continued to grow into the thousands...night fell as tall lights in the packed public square came on...and I started to get a sense of who was there for the greeting party.

It was mainly Ecuadorians and other South Americans, although a few Gringos -- maybe 2 percent -- were in the crowd.  A schoolboy told me he and three others in his family had come in from Ambato, Ecuador, three hours away by their bus.  Some middle-aged women there said they were from the EC coast, including Manta and Puerto Viejo.

Small boys and girls, aged about 3 to 7, sat on their padres' shoulders, the better to get a look at a papal driveby.  Several young men spread throughout the crowd were holding up sticks with pennants attached, showing the Pontiff's likeness and a slogan...Bienvenido a Mi Pais...Bienvenido a Nuestro Hogar.  Welcome to My Country...Welcome to Our Home.

It was a 62-degree F. night, but with the peaceful crowd packed so tight, people were starting to feel quite warm.  The ice tea in a bottle I bought at 6 at Mi Comisario was keeping me hydrated.  Best 65 centavos I've ever spent, I thought.

Just before 7, excitement started to build suddenly in the crowd.  Hundreds of I-phones and the like were hoisted above people's heads, their monitors showing the crowded intersection as vehicle noises became audible.

Right at 7, the motorcade appeared ... El Papa and his séquito returning from the Quito airport and his afternoon in Guayaquil...now headed to his audience with El Supremo at the Palacio Presidencial about a block from where we were gathered.

The crowd whooped it up as the four vehicles including ambulance drove up Mejia and passed us.

One was a big white RV-style vehicle with some people visible sitting inside.  None of them appeared to be wearing Papal robes.  The other vehicles were closed off or darkened, not permitting a view inside.

Then it happened.  The moment had passed and suddenly the peaceful crowd was moving  in tandem toward the police barricades.  Seemingly hundreds of people coming right at me in stampede mode.

I instantly realized the possibility of being pushed down and trampled, and I turned into NFL offensive lineman mode.  I took a firm stance that did not allow me to be pushed over, until I successfully maneuvered over to a building exterior wall and relative, momentary safety.  I made my way around the corner headed toward less-crowded Calle Venezuela as the crowd broke through the barricades and then the police started taking the barricades down.

Ten minutes later I was safely back at the condo.  Whew! 

I wondered, what will it be like tomorrow when 2-million are expected at the big Papal mass?

cccmedia in Quito

For the Oracle, SawMan and others closely following the Papal visit to Ecuador, there are more Pope Notes about the Pontiff's first full day in La República if you google...

  argus press  ecuador president surprises pope

cccmedia in Quito

Wonderful. Thanks for taking the time to write it up and of course risking your life to get the scoop for the EC Forum. Will you be going to the Mass? It's a once in a life time chance. He's not like the average pope.

O

It looks like he said Mass in GYE as well. Crowds  of over a million. Great video on NBC. They were spraying the crowds down with water because it was so hot.

Wonder what the itinerary is for the US- likely the WH and Yankee Stadium or Madison Square Garden, Can't afford to go back east again this year.

Maybe Mugs would go as a proxy, need all the help we can get here in the States

suefrankdahl wrote:

Maybe Mugs would go as a proxy, need all the help we can get here in the States

Philadelphia in September is on the schedule.

Pope Francis is visiting La Iglesia de la Compania de Jesus (church of the Jesuits) today -- appropriately, given that he is a Jesuit. It is, to my mind, the most spectacular church I have ever seen in my life (I am perhaps biased, having been Jesuit-educated).

This article discusses a number of points about the church -- its founding, decline, recent restoration, connection to St. Marianna de Jesus, etc. It disputes the commonly-held opinion that the building contains 'tons' of gold.

http://www.catholicnews.com/data/storie … 502889.htm

Although the church's interior glows gently with light reflected from floor-to-ceiling gold leaf, "There aren't tons of gold in the church," as some have claimed, Santander said.

The gold, which he said weighs a little more than 100 pounds, adorns the elaborately carved altarpiece, the eight-pointed stars on the columns, the intricate side altars and the graceful curves of the ceiling.

So there: it's 'only' a hundred pounds or so.

Fantastic place -- should be on every tourist's/expat's must-see list.

mugtech wrote:

suefrankdahl wrote:

Maybe Mugs would go as a proxy, need all the help we can get here in the States

Philadelphia in September is on the schedule.

YES!!!!! If CCC can do it so can you, you've got to go for us we need photos posted this time. What's the venue?

BobH wrote:

-- (I am perhaps biased, having been Jesuit-educated).


.

Where?

Sorry to go    this might convince me to go to EC

. Are these cathedrals really more beautiful than the ones in Europe?

suefrankdahl wrote:

Sorry to go    this might convince me to go to EC

. Are these cathedrals really more beautiful than the ones in Europe?

That's a matter of opinion, of course. There are some incredible cathedrals in Europe (Prague has some of my favorites). But I think I would put Iglesia La Compania way up on the list, with San Francisco de Quito and La Basilica not far behind.

OT: I graduated from Brophy Prep -- the Jesuit high school in Phoenix.