Pope Francis is visiting Ecuador at the start of his seven-day tour of Latin America.
Ecuador’s left-wing President Rafael Correa called the Pope’s visit “an honor”.
Pope Francis will also travel to Bolivia and Paraguay, as part of his second trip to the region since becoming pontiff in 2013.
The Argentine is the first Pope to come from South America. He is expected to highlight the themes of poverty and inequality.
In 2007, before becoming Pope, Bishop of Buenos Aires Jorge Mario Bergoglio told a gathering of Latin American bishops that they were living in the most unequal part of the world.
During his previous trip in 2013, Pope Francis addressed millions on Brazil’s Copacabana Beach.
Pope Francis has requested to chew coca leaves while in Bolivia, according to Bolivian Culture Minister Marko Machicao.
Coca, the raw ingredient for cocaine, has been used in the Andes for thousands of years to combat altitude sickness and as a mild stimulant.
In September Pope Francis will travel to Cuba ahead of a trip to the US.
Pope Francis is credited with helping bring about last December’s diplomatic thaw between the two countries.
Pope Francis I, born Jorge Mario Bergoglio on 17 December 1936, is the 266th and current Pope of the Catholic Church, elected on 13 March 2013.
He is the first Pope born in the Americas, and the first Pope from the Southern Hemisphere.
Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, Archbishop of Buenos Aires has been mooted as a possible successor ever since John Paul II died.
Jorge Mario Bergoglio, 76, a trained chemist and son of a railway worker, has been a cardinal since 2001 and is widely seen as being open and compassionate.
He stands out for his humility, living in a modest apartment, rather than his luxury official residence.
“In favor of Bergoglio is his pastoral attitude, as they say in the Church – his relationship with the people,” said in 2005 Leandro Pastor, a philosophy professor at the University of Buenos Aires, who has known Cardinal Bergoglio for more than 30 years.
“He’s a very simple man. He’s very austere. And also, I think he’s an intelligent man and someone who is very good at communicating.”
Pope Francis I, born Jorge Mario Bergoglio, is the 266th and current Pope of the Catholic Church
Jorge Mario Bergoglio impressed fellow prelates in 2001 when he skilfully helped to manage a synod of bishops in Rome.
Buenos Aires’ cardinal is also a strong advocate for the poor. And, as a Latin American, he comes from a region which is home to around half the world’s billion or so Catholics.
He speaks Italian – the official language of the Church – and that he traces his ancestry back to Italy.
In the event that cardinals struggle to decide whether to maintain a non-Italian papacy or to return to its traditional roots, Jorge Mario Bergoglio could emerge as a choice of compromise.
For the past 28 years, Jorge Mario Bergoglio has lived with only one functioning lung, although he is said to be in good shape.
And then there is the fact that he is a Jesuit.
This order of the Church has never produced a Pope before.
Jorge Mario Bergoglio, the archbishop of Buenos Aires, has been elected the 266th Roman Catholic Church’s new Pope.
The Argentine cardinal is the first Latin American to be Pope.
He will call himself Francis I.
An hour earlier, white smoke billowing from the Sistine Chapel chimney announced to the world that cardinals gathered inside had made their choice.
Jorge Mario Bergoglio replaces Benedict XVI, who resigned last month saying he was not strong enough to lead the Church.
The 115 cardinals have been in isolation since Tuesday afternoon, and held four inconclusive votes.
Jorge Mario Bergoglio, the archbishop of Buenos Aires, has been elected the 266th Roman Catholic Church’s new Pope
At least 77 of them, or two-thirds, would have had to vote for a single candidate for him to be elected Pope.
Before the conclave began, there was no clear frontrunner to replace Benedict.
Crowds with umbrellas massed in the square flying flags from around the world.
The Catholic News Agency said people were running through the streets of Rome, hoping to reach St Peter’s Square in time for the appearance of the new Pope.
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