Pope Arrives in Chile Amid Escalating Protests

Pope Francis has arrived in Chile amid protests by Indigenous groups and human rights organizations.

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The pontiff will hold an open-air mass in a Santiago city park on Tuesday. During his three-day visit, the Pope Francis will remain in Chile, where he will meet with victims of the military dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet.

There are, however, no formal plans to meet victims of pedophile priests, according to AFP. Feminist and LGBT rights groups are expected to protest this decision. 

President Michelle Bachelet, who will meet Pope Francis on Tuesday, has called on Chileans to welcome him. 

Since 2000, nearly 80 members of the Chilean clergy have been accused of sexual abuse of minors, with more than half of the accused convicted by a Vatican court.

On Friday, protesters launched fire bombs on at least four churches in Chile's capital, Santiago. According to local media reports, no one was hurt in the attack, which left doors burned and windows charred and busted.

One of the churches attacked is located near the Apostolic Nunciature, the Vatican embassy, where Pope Francis will be hosted while in Chile.

"Pope Francis, the next bombs will be on your cassock,” read one of the messages at a nearby church, local newspapers reported. 

"The Church has problems and is in the throes of trying to reaffirm itself, pointing to the need to strengthen the family and the rejection of abortion and homosexual marriage, but at the same time riven by internal problems, including priests who have been involved in sexual abuse," University of Santiago sociologist Cristian Parker told AFP. 

So far, no one has been arrested for the attacks on churches. The security plan for Pope Francis' visit is being re-evaluated and reinforced, Chilean officials reported. 

Protesters in the southern city of Osorno have raised objections to Pope Francis appointing Juan Barros in 2015 as bishop of the diocese there and are expected to join protesters in Santiago. 

During his visit, the 81-year-old Argentine pontiff is also expected to hold a mass in Temuco, capital of the disputed Araucania region in southern Chile, some 600 kilometers from the capital. The Mapuche, Chile's largest Indigenous group, have been trying to reclaim their territory in Araucania, located south of the Bio Bio river, which was taken over by the Chilean military in the late 19th century.

The lands were later colonized by European settlers who owned timber factories and ranches in the region, leaving the Mapuche poverty-stricken and the region environmentally depleted. 

Mapuche leaders have warned that the Papal visit may aggravate tensions in the poverty-ridden Araucania. In November, activists burned a bus and distributed pamphlets with the slogan "Fire to the churches. Pope Francis: you're not welcome to Araucania." 

Pope Francis is also expected to visit the cities of Temuco and Iquique before heading to Peru, where he's due to visit Lima, Puerto Maldonado and Trujillo. 

Earlier this month, Chile strengthened its border patrol to prepare for the Pontiff's visit to the Latin American country. Thousands of police officers will be deployed in the Chilean capital of Santiago, where more than 500,000 people are expected to gather for a planned mass.

"We are going to see a record number of visitors," Reginaldo Flores, head of the Interior Ministry's border crossings unit, told Reuters.