By; News room
Pope Francis has used a public address on his last day in Chile to denounce violence and called for unity in one of the country’s longest-running conflicts.
Speaking in southern Araucania region, the pontiff said “destructive violence” between the indigenous Mapuche people and the state was not the answer since “Violence breeds violence.
The region has experienced conflict for centuries said to be caused by ancestral land ownership and legal recognition for the Mapuche language and culture.
Pope Francis was speaking at a mass in Temuco city, which is both the capital of Araucania and the de-facto capital for the Mapuche community.
He said Violence eventually makes a most just cause into a lie adding that Unity is not born, nor will be born, from neutralising or silencing differences.
Ahead of his arrival in the region, Chilean police said that two Catholic churches were set on fire, along with three helicopters belonging to forestry companies.
Earlier Pope Francis met a group of victims of sexual abuse by priests in Chile at the Vatican’s mission in Santiago saying he felt “pain and shame” over the sex abuse scandal, asking the victims for forgiveness.
From Chile Pope Francis will head to Peru in his 6 day visit to the two countries he started on Monday January 15th.
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