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Pope Francis decried the scourge of corruption as the “gangrene of a people” in a speech in Paraguay, one of the poorest countries in South America and where graft is rampant.


On the last stop of a three-nation tour of South America, the 78-year-old pope also railed against ideologies and hammered home the central theme of his trip to his home continent: equality.


Unbridled capitalism is the 'dung of the devil', says Pope Francis
 
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Speaking to an enchanted crowd of 5,000 at a small stadium in the capital Asuncion, Francis drifted away from his scripted remarks, saying that “ideologies end badly, they do not work, they do not take into account the people”.

“Look what happened with ideologies in the last century ... they ended in dictatorships, always,” he added, applause ringing out in response.

In a question-and-answer session, he denounced corruption, which plagues several countries in South America.

But perhaps to avoid offending his hosts, he stressed that it was a recurring problem “among all peoples of the world”.

As he had done on previous stops during his trip, first in Ecuador, and then Bolivia, Francis called for an end to poverty – also endemic in the region – and lamented today’s consumer society.

Wealth creation should not be “only for the benefit of a few”, he said to more acclaim, and must be extended to “each citizen, without exclusion”.

He urged political leaders not to “sacrifice human lives on the altar of money and profit”.

“In economics, in business and in politics, what counts first and foremost is the human person and the environment in which he or she lives,” he said.