The Latest: Pope stops motorcade to help fallen officer
The Latest on Pope Francis' visit to South America (all times local):
2 p.m.
Pope Francis has brought his motorcade to a halt to check on a police officer who fell from her rearing horse along the route.
Francis descended from his popemobile Thursday after celebrating Mass in Iquique to check on the officer, who was on guard while Francis and his entourage passed by.
The horse reared up violently as the vehicle approached and the officer tumbled off. Francis stood by the woman until an ambulance arrived with a stretcher and took her away, before resuming his ride.
The Vatican said the woman was conscious "and received some words of consolation from the Holy Father."
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1:35 p.m.
Pope Francis is characterizing as "calumny" allegations that a Chilean bishop knew about the actions of and covered up for the South American nation's most notorious pedophile priest.
Earlier this week Francis met and wept with survivors of abuse and asked Chileans for forgiveness for the actions of some priests.
But Francis has also been sharply criticized for his 2015 decision to appoint Juan Barros as bishop in the southern city of Osorno. Barros was trained by the Rev. Fernando Karadima, whom the Vatican found guilty in 2011 of abusing minors over decades.
Asked about the case Thursday, Francis said: "There is not a single piece of proof (against Barros). It's all calumny."
That defense appears to stand in contrast to Francis' comments on the scandal in a 2015 letter obtained by The Associated Press and published last week.
Francis says in the letter that he contemplated asking for the resignation of Barros and two other bishops accused of knowing about Karadima's abuses and sending them on yearlong sabbaticals. Francis ultimately did not go through with that plan.
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10:15 a.m.
A small chapel in southern Peru has sustained minor fire damage in what church officials believe is the latest act of vandalism against religious buildings during Pope Francis' trip to the region.
Patrol officers in the city of Arequipa discovered the front door of the chapel in flames around 3:40 a.m. and quickly extinguished the blaze.
The door was charred black, but no other part of 100-year-old building was damaged.
Authorities are investigating what caused the blaze. A preliminary theory is someone threw a fuel-soaked cloth at the chapel.
The incident comes hours before Francis is set to arrive in Peru later Thursday from neighboring Chile.
Eleven firebombs have damaged and in some cases burned churches to the ground in Chile in recent days.
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11:55 a.m.
Pope Francis is urging the people of a Chilean coastal city to continue to be welcoming toward migrants as their ranks swell.
Francis made the comments during a homily in Iquique, which has experienced a boom of immigrants from several countries. The rise has been so fast that today there are nearly two dozen immigrant slums.
The pope said Thursday: "This land is a land of dreams, but let us work to ensure that it also continues to be a land of hospitality."
According to U.N. and church statistics, Chile had the fastest annual rate of migrant growth of any country in Latin American between 2010 and 2015.
Many of the newcomers are Haitians, who often face language barriers that limit their job prospects.
Chile has not experienced the kind of anti-immigrant backlash seen in the U.S. and Europe, but the incoming conservative government of President Sebastian Pinera has promised to crack down.
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10:40 a.m.
Pope Francis has celebrated the first-ever airborne papal wedding, marrying two flight attendants from Chile's flagship airline during a flight from Santiago.
Bride Paola Podest and groom Carlos Ciuffardi said "I do" Thursday morning after telling Francis that they had been married in a civil service in 2010. However they said they were unable to follow up with a church ceremony because of the 2010 earthquake that hit Chile.
Francis then offered to marry the LATAM flight attendants aboard the aircraft en route to the northern city of Iquique, and they both readily agreed. The head of the airline served as the witness.
Ciuffardi told journalists in the aisle of the Airbus 321 that Francis told him it was "historic" and no pope had ever before married a couple aboard a plane.
- Star
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