The Latest: Pope Francis leaves for Ecuador on 3-nation trip
By Associated Press
Jul 5, 2015 3:27 AM CDT
Police stand guard near a billboard of Pope Francis covered by the Spanish words: "With Francis. We announce the joy of the Gospel" as they train ahead of his arrival in El Alto, Bolivia, Saturday, July 4, 2015. The pope's trip to South America that includes Bolivia is set for July 5-12, though he will...   (Associated Press)

ROME (AP) — Here are the latest developments from Pope Francis' trip to South America:

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9:30 a.m.

Pope Francis is in the air, heading to his native continent of South America on a nine-day pastoral pilgrimage.

The Alitalia plane flying Francis and his entourage to Quito, Ecuador, left Rome on Sunday at 9:15 a.m. (0715 GMT). The Argentine-born pope will also visit Bolivia and Paraguay. He returns to Rome on July 13.

History's first Latin American pope is returning with a message of solidarity with the region's poor, who are expected to turn out in droves.

"The pope of the poor" chose to visit Ecuador, Bolivia and Paraguay because they are among the poorest and most marginal nations of a region that claims 40 percent of the world's Catholics. He's skipping his homeland of Argentina, at least partly to avoid papal entanglement in this year's presidential election.

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