Nuns wait for Pope Francis to arrive, in Lima, Peru January 18, 2018. REUTERS/Pilar Olivares
January 18, 2018
LIMA (Reuters) – Pope Francis arrived in Peru on Thursday, as the Andean nation’s president appealed to him to help put the country back on track after a political crisis nearly ousted him from office a month ago.
The Argentine pontiff landed in the Peruvian capital Lima from neighboring Chile on Thursday afternoon, the second part of his visit to the two largely Roman Catholic South American nations, where he has sought to restore the Church’s credibility after sex abuse allegations.
Peruvian President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski has called for Francis to bring the country together following an outcry over his pardon of former autocrat Alberto Fujimori, whom he freed from prison on Christmas Eve after narrowly surviving an impeachment bid over a graft scandal.
“I hope the visit by Pope Francis puts us once more on the path to peace and dialogue,” Kuczynski said on Twitter before the pope’s arrival.
(Reporting By Mitra Taj and Marco Aquino, Editing by Rosalba O’Brien)
