Pope Francis became the first pontiff to enter Mexico's National Palace to meet the president on Saturday as he starts a cross-country tour that will highlight the country's violence and migration troubles. Video provided by AFP Newslook
MEXICO CITY — The visit was unprecedented — the world's first Latin American pope meets with Latin American political and religious leaders and celebrates Mass at the center of Latin American Catholic devotion.
So the visit came with a sense of great anticipation of what mark Pope Francis would try to leave on his latest trip to the new world.
By the end of the pope's whirlwind tour across Mexico's capital, the journey had established a theme as significant and complicated as the Catholic Church itself.
The pope's addresses Saturday to political leaders, bishops and the faithful at Mass at the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe , were a study in peace and adoration. But both the pope's remarks and the mood of the crowds outside were defined by the drug violence that has long permeated parts of Mexico.
Again and again, for different audiences, the pope honed his message.
To state leaders, he cautioned that a selfish society becomes "a fertile soil for corruption, drug trade, exclusion of different cultures, violence and also human trafficking, kidnapping and death."
From the assembled Mexican bishops, he demanded "prophetic courage" to heal ravaged areas.
At evening Mass, he sought hope for "the suffering but resilient hearts" of families that lose children to violence and crime.
As the popemobile whisked Francis from one speech to the next, crowds stretched from one horizon to the other. The air remained festive, even jubilant, and peaceful, as thousands of police officers and security guards patrolled the streets and military police in green uniforms stood on guard holding large automatic weapons.
Nearly all were there foremost out of spiritual devotion to the leader of the Roman Catholic Church. But as the pope spoke, he seemed to tap into the frustration many Mexicans have expressed here in the past two days: a pervasive sense of government corruption and the inability of authorities to bring years of cartel violence under control.
Over and over, Mexicans along the city's endless avenues repeated the same hope. They are desperately praying that the pope's visit will bring peace to Mexico by raising the spiritual conscience of government leaders and of those involved in crime and the drug trade.
“These are good people, and they turn bad. Why? Because of the economy,” said Raybel Paredes, 35, a chauffeur, as he waited for the pope to pass by.
He lives in Ecatepec , the same densely populated working-class suburb where the pope will lead Mass on Sunday and is likely to advance a similar theme.
But instead of waiting to see the pope nearby, Paredes and his wife and several other families members left their homes at 4 a.m. CT Saturday. They arrived in Mexico City by 5 a.m. to secure a good spot along the route.
Paredes said he felt safer coming to Mexico City, where he knew plenty of police would be patrolling, than seeing the pope in Ecatepec. There, Paredes said kidnappings, murders, extortions, robberies and assaults are so common most people do not leave their homes after dark.
"Leaving your house to go to work is an adventure," Paredes said. "You don't know if you are going to make it back alive.”
The pope showed little reluctance to go off script.
As is his custom, he delivered at least one passage that turned heads and is likely to make headlines in Catholic media.
During his speech to Mexican bishops at Mexico City’s cathedral, he offered off-the-cuff advice to address infighting and political jockeying among the group that governs the church in the country.
“If you have to fight, fight. If you have to tell each other off, say it," he told the bishops. "But do it as men, face to face. Just be sure to maintain the unity of the episcopate. But as men of God, pray together, and if you crossed the line, ask for forgiveness."
It was the first colorful remark during his five-day visit, which will take him from one end of the country to the other. It was not expected to be the last.
However, his focus Saturday was on the violence that has left thousands dead, according to various estimates, and has displaced thousands more. His first speech of the day was given to government officials, including state governors, at the country's National Palace, the seat of the executive branch.
Pope Francis, referring to himself as a “missionary of mercy and peace,” asked them to work for the common good and reject "individualism."
“Each time we seek the path of privileges and benefits for the few to the detriment of the good of all, sooner or later the life of society becomes a fertile soil for corruption, drug trade, exclusion of different cultures, violence and also human trafficking, kidnapping and death, bringing suffering and slowing down development,” he said.
Later, he spoke at Mexico City's cathedral, the seat of church authority in the region. He urged Mexico's bishops "not to underestimate the moral and antisocial challenge which the drug trade represents for Mexican society."
As he spoke, crowds lined the road leading to the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe, a major pilgrimage site named in honor of Mexico's beloved and deeply venerated patron saint. The faithful believe the Virgin Mary appeared at the site, on Tepeyac Hill , to a peasant named Juan Diego in 1531, sending a message of hope that has reverberated ever since.
He hoped the pope’s visit would spark change in Mexico and "an end to the crime, the violence, because the criminal organizations are affecting the whole country."
How would the pope's visit bring about change?
"Change depends on individual persons," he said. "There is no guarantee that one person can change people, but (through his words) he can bring people closer to their faith so they do change."
On the side of the street, Bishop Bryan Bayda , 54, opened his cellphone to show some pictures. There he was at the Vatican shaking hands with Pope Francis.
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