The Pope has issued a strong warning against those tempted by personal charisma to be authoritarian leaders in the Church, describing such leaders as "servants of the devil".
Pope Francis has begun his week-long visit in three countries in South America on Sunday afternoon, arriving in Ecuador where he was greeted by a youth orchestra and a long line of Catholic crowd from the airport to Quinto.
The Roman Catholic Church should not have leaders who cling to their positions for a long time similar to dictators, Pope Francis told Christians in Vatican City.
Pope Francis leaves Rome on Sunday for his first trip to Spanish-speaking Latin America, a "homecoming" to a continent where he will champion the rights of the poor and of the planet.
Pope Francis is set to return to his home continent on Sunday on a swamped seven-day apostolic visit to Latin America's peripheries: Ecuador, Bolivia, and Paraguay, with the pontiff expected to speak about the "protection of creation" and social justice.
The Roman Catholic Church should not have "leaders for life" in its ranks, otherwise it would risk being like a country under dictatorship, Pope Francis said on Friday.
Australian worship leader Darlene Zschech will join renowned tenor Andrea Bocelli at an ecumenical prayer and worship event for the persecuted church hosted by Pope Francis at the Vatican today.
Pope Francis has encouraged the faithful to pray for Greece and her people amid the country's debt crisis and maintained that dignity should be the heart of political debates.