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Pope begins visit to Latin America in Ecuador
His trip will focus on the issue of poverty and inequality, the Vatican said.
Ecuador's President Correa greets Pope Francis on the tarmac at Quito Airport
Pope Francis has arrived in Ecuador on the first stop of a seven-day tour of South America, his second visit to the region since becoming pontiff in 2013.
"Progress and development must ensure a better future for all," he said in a speech on the Quito airport runway.
His trip will focus on the issue of poverty and inequality, the Vatican said. The pontiff will also travel to Bolivia and Paraguay, but not his home country of Argentina.
The Vatican said the decision not to visit the continent's larger nations reflected the Pope's interest in the "peripheries".
Pope Francis is the first leader of the Roman Catholic Church to come from South America.
In 2007, before becoming Pope, he told a gathering of Latin American bishops that they were living in the most unequal part of the world.
On Wednesday Pope Francis will travel to Bolivia. In September the Pope will travel to Cuba ahead of a trip to the US.
The pontiff is credited with helping bring about last December's diplomatic thaw between the two countries.
