At the end of the General Audience, Pope Francis appealed for peace in Chile, a country he had previously visited in January 2018.
The pope said, “I follow with concern what is happening in Chile. I hope that, by putting an end to the violent demonstrations, through dialogue, efforts will be made to find solutions to the crisis and to face the difficulties that have generated it, for the good of the entire population.”
A rise in the price of public transport triggered violent protests in the Andean country. A portion of the population considers this increase to be the lastest in a series of abuses committed against lower income households.
According to a report prepared by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, one percent of the country had 26.5 percent of Chile's net wealth in 2017 while 50 percent had only 2.1 percent.
