Pope Francis, 79, who appeared in good shape, was welcomed triumphantly Saturday along the avenues of Mexico City, for kilometers, by a joyous crowd of hundreds of thousands of Mexicans.
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Earlier this week in Ecatepec, protesters demanded that the security measures put in place for the papal visit become permanent to combat the daily robberies, kidnappings, extortion and homicides in Ecatepec and elsewhere in the state of Mexico, which includes the capital.
After a tour of the presidential palace, Francis invoked the country’s struggles against malfeasance, poverty, and lawlessness as he addressed a packed room of political leaders.
“I urge you not to underestimate the moral and antisocial challenge which the drug trade represents for Mexican society as a whole, as well as for the Church”, the pope said. Some Mexicans are looking to him to take that even further.
The basilica is home to an image of the Virgin that is said to have miraculously imprinted itself on a cloak belonging to the indigenous peasant Juan Diego in 1531.
During his private encounter with President Enrique Pena Nieto gifts were exchanged, the two men conversed and the Pope was introduced to top representatives of the Mexican Government.
“A people with a youthful population is a people able to renew and transform itself; it is an invitation to look to the future with hope and, in turn, it challenges us in a positive way here and now”, the Pope said Saturday.
Francis kicks off his first trip to Mexico on Saturday with speeches to the country’s political and ecclesial elites, riding in on the success of his historic meeting in Cuba with the head of the Russian Orthodox Church.
Later, he was to issue a similarly pointed speech to bishops about their duties as pastors before ending the day with a Mass at the Basilica of the Virgin of Guadalupe, the largest shrine dedicated to the Madonna.
Rather, he said the horrors of drug violence required “prophetic courage” from the church and a pastoral plan that involves families, parishes, schools and communities.
Francis is the first pope to enter Mexico’s National Palace.
The hashtag #PapaenMex activates an icon of the Pope’s face with Flag of Mexico as the background, while #PapaenCDmx reveals the “Angel of Independence” characteristic of Mexico City.
Francis told President Enrique Pena Nieto and assembled lawmakers in Mexico City that they have a responsibility to help citizens gain access to “indispensable material and spiritual goods”, including housing, employment and a peaceful environment.
Lining up along the route to the Basilica, I spoke to one woman who had come from Los Angeles to see the Pope – two years ago she had been given six months to live after being diagnosed with cancer.
The Pope assured the president that the Mexican government “can count on the cooperation of the Catholic Church, which has accompanied the life of this nation and which renews its commitment and willingness to serve the great causes of mankind: the building of the civilization of love”.
The pope’s five-day trip to the world’s largest Spanish-speaking Catholic country is shining an uncomfortable spotlight on government and church shortcomings in dealing with social ills. On the right, the Virgin of Guadalupe, looks down. He handed out rosaries to faithful in wheelchairs and embraced a young boy wearing a surgical mask.
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“Across Latin America, the portion of people who identify as Catholic has declined considerably in recent decades, from at least 90% in the 1960s to 69% in 2014”, according to a 2014 report from the centre.
