Pope, Amazon bishops alarmed by Ecuador violence

VATICAN CITY – Pope Francis is appealing for peace in Ecuador following a day of attacks on government buildings and media offices that prompted a curfew.

Francis issued the appeal Sunday also in the name of all the bishops of the Amazon, including from Ecuador. They are in Rome to discuss church efforts to better minister to the region’s indigenous people.

Francis said: “I share the sorrow for the dead, wounded and missing. I encourage efforts for social peace, with particular attention paid to the most vulnerable people, to the poor and to human rights.”

President Lenín Moreno has ordered the first 24-hour curfew in decades.

Moreno said the masked protesters had nothing to do with thousands of indigenous Ecuadorians protesting over a rise in fuel prices as part of an austerity package.