ASUNCION, Paraguay — Pope Francis arrived Friday in this sleepy Paraguayan capital, the third and final stop on his South American pilgrimage and officially the most Roman Catholic country in the region — and one of the most conservative.

The pope’s arrival in Asuncion followed prayers in Bolivia with the inmates at a notorious prison and, on Thursday, a heartfelt apology to indigenous groups for the colonial-era atrocities committed by the Catholic Church.

Pope Francis and Paraguay’s President Horacio Cartes, right, attend a ceremony in Asuncion, Paraguay, on Friday. Cartes is seen as unlikely to welcome progressive ideas. The Associated Press

He stepped onto the runway at Asuncion’s international airport in a driving rain and without an umbrella, as is his custom, after what reporters on board his plane said was a rather bumpy landing.

The pope was expected to continue pressing his favored themes of helping the poor and downtrodden. But in Paraguay, there are other challenges. Unlike Ecuador and Bolivia, this landlocked country is ruled by a conservative businessman, Horacio Cartes, less receptive to progressive social policies that the pope sometimes promotes.

Cartes’ predecessor, Fernando Lugo, was a former Catholic priest who was ousted by an impeachment that some in South America described as nothing less than a coup by the party that traditionally ruled Paraguay until Lugo’s election. Cartes returned to power with the Colorado Party of the late dictator Alfredo Stroessner.

Although a recent survey by the Pew Research Center listed Paraguay as the most Catholic country in South America, with high Mass attendance, many here are disillusioned by issues such as recent clerical sex-abuse scandals. The pope will attempt to woo them back to the fold.

“I used to never miss Mass. I was really dedicated,” said Anibal Recalde, a 50-year-old out-of-work mechanic hoping to catch a glimpse of the pope. “But all of what happened with the abuse of children made me lose faith in the church, and for the last four or five years I stopped going. That’s what the pope wants to change and needs to change.”

Recalde said he hoped the pope would tell Paraguay’s leaders to care for the poor, “a message that has not arrived to Paraguay yet.”

“This is our pope,” said 10-year-old Jorge Espinola, his face caked with dirt as he sold Francis balloons at an intersection for $4. “I hope that he brings miracles here, because I know he can.”

Rosario Bagodo, 25, was eating lunch before her shift selling empanadas at a gas station, for which she earns minimum wage equivalent to about $385 a month. “I hope the pope tells our government to pay more attention to education and health care,” she said. “I don’t go to Mass. I can’t, because I work too much. But I pray.”

The normally sleepy city of Asuncion spruced up for the pope’s visit, with the red, white and blue Paraguayan flag draped everywhere alongside the papal white and yellow.

Crowds lined up along the streets, waiting for the popemobile to pass. Some wore shirts with sayings in the local Guarani language, including one that read, “Messenger of joy and peace,” the slogan of this leg of the pope’s landmark visit to his native continent.

Earlier in the day in Bolivia, Francis visited one of Latin America’s most violent prisons and urged inmates not to despair.

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