Pope Francis leaving Ecuador for Bolivia

(ANSA) - Quito, July 8 - Pope Francis was set to leave Ecuador Wednesday for Bolivia for the second stage of his eight-day pastoral visit to South America which will also take in Paraguay.
    Before leaving Quito the pontiff will say farewell to the papal nunciature in the Ecuadorian capital and travel to Tumbaco, 21 km from Quito, where he will visit an old people's home run by nuns from Mother Teresa's order.
    The pope then was due to visit a shrine at Quinche, the biggest Marian sanctuary in Ecuador, where he will meet the clergy and seminarians of the country, and make a speech to them.
    Immediately afterwards at 11:45 am, Francis was due to arrive at the Mariscal Sucre airport where a brief farewell ceremony was to be held.
    The pope then will fly for three hours and a quarter to the Bolivian city of El Alto, the highest airport in the world, where the altitude is 4,000 meters above sea level.
    Both Frances and Bolivian President Evo Morales will deliver speeches during an arrival ceremony after which the pontiff will be driven toward La Paz.
    The Jesuit pope was due to stop at the site where the body of the Jesuit priest Fr Luis Espinal was found March 21, 1980, after being abducted the previous day and tortured to death by paramilitary gunmen following dictator Luis Garcia Meza during one of the bloodiest periods of the history of Bolivia.
    In the government palace in La Paz the pope will make a visit to the president and then meet civil authorities in the city cathedral.
    Francis then was due to fly back to El Alto en route for Santa Cruz de la Sierra, a new economic centre of Bolivia, 400 metres above sea level, where the pope will stay at the residence of Archbishop Emeritus Terrazas Sandoval during his sojourn in Bolivia until Friday.
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