Pope Francis plans to do cocaine during South American trip
In a shocking turn of events, Pope Francis, the Supreme Pontiff of the Catholic Church, has expressed his desire to do cocaine during an upcoming trip to South America.
Well–not exactly.
Pope Francis will be in South America this month; he’s scheduled to visit Ecuador, Bolivia, and Paraguay from the 6th to the 12th of July. Of those three nations, Bolivia is the most mountainous and the one with the highest average altitude–La Paz, its capital city, sits 11,975 feet above sea level–and it’s not uncommon for travelers to take some sort of cure to help combat altitude sickness.
Bolivian Culture Minister Marko Machicao, who spoke on state television and radio last weekend, said that he had offered Pope Francis coca tea, which is the most common means for foreigners to deal with the problem.
Pope Francis, though, asked if he could take the standard local means of chewing cocoa leaves. Cocoa leaves are the raw ingredient used to make cocaine. When unprocessed, they’re legal to chew in Bolivia.
According to Machicao, “[Pope Francis] has specifically requested that he wants to chew coca, so we will be awaiting the Holy Father with the sacred coca leaf.”
The Vatican, though, played it safe, indicating that the Pope hasn’t made a final decision on the matter and merely wants a bevy of options available to him.
Said Vatican spokesman Frederico Lombardi, “The Pope will do what he thinks is right.”
(Photo credits: WENN)
