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Rio de Janeiro – Pope Francis has warned Latin America against legalising drugs, arguing in sharply-worded and highly political remarks that liberal policies under consideration in his home region will not reduce the problem. The Argentine-born pontiff delved into the hot topic on Wednesday after celebrating the first public mass of his week-long visit to Brazil, in which he has sought to deliver a message of hope to the poor and vulnerable.
He drew a line against drugs as he met crack addicts and inaugurated a rehabilitation ward at a Rio de Janeiro hospital run by Franciscan monks.
“The scourge of drug trafficking, which favours violence and sows the seeds of suffering and death, requires of society as a whole an act of courage,” Francis said as rain fell on the Saint Francis hospital.
“A reduction in the spread and influence of drug addiction will not be achieved by a liberalisation of drug use, as is currently being proposed in various parts of Latin America,” he said on the third day of his trip
Hours earlier, the 76-year-old pope, in Brazil for a Catholic youth festival, urged Catholics to reject “ephemeral idols” such as money, power and success as he led mass at the country’s most revered shrine.
Drug violence has killed more than 70 000 people in Mexico alone since 2006, while narcotrafficking continues unabated across Latin America, fuelling calls for a rethink of the US-backed “war on drugs”.
Guatemala’s president has called for legalisation, a vision shared by ex-presidents in Brazil, Mexico and Colombia but opposed by the United States and Mexican governments.
Uruguayan President Jose Mujica has proposed legalising marijuana in his country.
But the pope said society must fight the underlying problems of drug use by “promoting greater justice, educating young people in the values that build up life in society, accompanying those in difficulty and giving them hope for the future”.
Latin America’s first pope visited the hospital after flying back from a mass at the Shrine of Our Lady Aparecida in neighbouring Sao Paulo state, where more than 200 000 people braved the cold rain to greet him. – AFP
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