Pope Francis ends Latin America tour with giant Mass Published duration 22 January 2018

image copyright EPA image caption An estimated 1.3 million people attended the Mass at Las Palmas Air Base, Lima, Peru

Pope Francis has celebrated an open-air Mass for more than a million people in the Peruvian capital, Lima at the end of his South American tour.

Earlier on Sunday, he warned that the region was in a deep crisis because of corruption.

The Pope described politics as "more sick than well".

He also highlighted the fact that three recent Peruvian presidents have been jailed or charged with corruption.

In the final hours of his six-day visit to Chile and Peru, he pointed to the impact of Odebrecht, a Brazilian construction company that has admitted paying billions of dollars in bribes to politicians across the region.

"Politics is in crisis, very much in crisis in Latin America," he said.

Peru's present leader, Pedro Pablo Kuczynski, was nearly impeached in December because he did not reveal that a company he used to run did business with Odebrecht.

image copyright Reuters image caption The number of Catholics in Peru remains high at around 72 per cent according to Datum poll

Earlier in his visit to Peru, Pope Francis became the first pope to visit the Amazon basin in more than 30 years.

Speaking to thousands of members of indigenous communities in the Madre de Dios region, he defended their way of life and spoke out against environmental degradation.

He said big business and "consumerist greed" could not be allowed to destroy a natural habitat vital for the whole world.

The Catholic Church's record on sexual abuse was a strong issue in both countries.