Pope lands in Ecuador to kick off three-nation tour

Pope Francis arrived in Ecuador to kick off his first South American trip in two years that will also take him to Bolivia and Paraguay and see him highlight the plight of the poor.

The 78-year-old, who hails from Argentina, landed at 2:43 pm yesterday at a blustery Mariscal Sucre international airport in Quito -- it was so windy his skullcap was blown off only seconds after he emerged from his plane. 

It is the first visit by a pontiff to Ecuador in three decades, and thousands of excited people massed in the capital and lined the roadsides to greet him.

He jetted in aboard an Alitalia passenger plane, in a sign of the austere simplicity he has sought to bring to his office.

Still smiling despite losing his skullcap, he was met on the tarmac by a beaming Ecuadoran President Rafael Correa and the pair shared a warm embrace.