(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis on Wednesday 16th of February was in the capital of Michoacán, Morelia, hotspot of drug related violence to meet with young people at the ‘José Maria Morelos y Pavòn’ stadium.
Veronica Scarisbrick is in Mexico and reports on this joy-filled encounter
Listen:
When he arrived in what looked more like a golf cart than a pope mobile and made his way over a makeshift lawn, the Pope was greeted by the indigenous people of Michoacán in their traditional embroidered costumes, a splash of yellow, red, blue and a touch of green.
And when a few of the 50.000 of the young people gathered there spoke, they thanked Pope Francis for coming to Morelia and asked him for a word of hope.
One young man, Alberto, highlighted how happy they all were that Pope Francis had come as a messenger of peace and reconciliation. How in Mexico over thirty million young people wish to live in peace.
And then another young man touched on a sore point here. That’s to say the high rates of unemployment which lead many to despair and consequently to avarice, corruption and the temptation of an easy life at the margins of legality. The victims of the drug trafficking, of violence of exploitation are on the increase, he said, and the only thing left for many families is to shed tears for the death of our loved ones. Impunity, he explained, has been on the side of those who kidnap, defraud and kill. Holy Father, he begged, we wish to be builders of peace; we would like our loved ones not to be affected by violence. How can we Catholics receive the peace of Christ and be His messengers like you?
It was a moment of sharing and joy and Pope Francis, who upon his arrival in Mexico had said that one of Mexico’s greatest treasures is that it has a youthful face repeated these words, smiled and seemed to draw energy from so much youth.
He told the young people they should still believe in dreams. That the principal threat to hope is to allow oneself to believe that one is only worth something when one starts wearing the right clothes, the latest brands and fashions, or when one enjoys prestige, or are important because one has money; but in the depths of one heart one does not believe that one is worthy of kindness or love. The biggest threat, he went on to say, is when a person feels that they must have money to buy everything, including the love of others, the biggest threat is to believe that by having a big car you will be happy.
You are the wealth of Mexico, you are the wealth of the Church Pope Francis added. I understand, he insisted, that often it is difficult to feel your worth when you are continually exposed to the loss of friends or relatives at the hands of the drug trade, of drugs themselves, of criminal organizations that sow terror. But hand in hand with Jesus we can believe it is a lie to believe that the only way to live or to be young, is to entrust oneself to drug dealers or others who do nothing but sow destruction and death.
You have asked me for a word of hope, he continued, and the one I have to give to you, is Jesus Christ. When it seems that the world is crashing down around you embrace His Cross, draw close to Him and please never let go of his hand. And then the Pope and the young people burst into song and prayer. And after praying the young people went wild with joy and more song.
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis on Tuesday met with tens of thousands of young Mexicans from across the country, telling them that they are the wealth of the nation.
After evidently enjoying the singing and dancing performed by hundreds of youngsters in colourful local costumes, the Pope told them to put their hope, not in money or material things, but in Jesus Christ who is calling them to be ‘salt and light’ among their friends and their communities.
Pope Francis also told the young people he understands the difficulties they face when they lose friends or relatives to drugs or criminal organizations, when they have no job opportunities or feel their rights are being trampled on. But he told them never to lose hope, to draw close to Jesus and to go out and proclaim their faith to others.
Please find below Pope Francis’ prepared remarks to young people in the José María Morellos y Pavón Stadium, Morelia, Mexico
Dear young friends,
Good afternoon. When I arrived in this country I received a warm welcome. I saw something which I have sensed for a long time: the vitality, the joy, and the festive spirit of the Mexican people. And now [ahorita]… after listening to you, but particularly after seeing you, I am also certain about something else, something I said to the President of the nation when I arrived. One of Mexico’s greatest treasures is that it has a youthful face: its young people. Yes, you are the wealth of this land. I did not say the hope of this land, but its wealth.
You cannot live in hope, or look to the future if you do not first know how to value yourselves, if you do not feel that your life, your hands, your history, is worth the effort. Hope is born when you are able to experience that all is not lost; and for this to happen it is necessary to start “at home”, to begin with yourself. Not everything is lost. I am not lost; I am worth something, I am worth a lot. The biggest threats to hope are those words which devalue you, which make you feel second rate. The biggest threat to hope is when you feel that you do not matter to anybody or that that you have been left aside. The biggest threat to hope is when you feel that, either being present or absent, you make no difference. This kills, this crushes us and opens the door to much suffering. The principal threat to hope is to allow yourself to believe that you begin to be valuable when you start wearing the right clothes, the latest brands and fashions, or when you enjoy prestige, are important because you have money; but in the depths of your heart you do not believe that you are worthy of kindness or love. The biggest threat is when a person feels that they must have money to buy everything, including the love of others. The biggest threat is to believe that by having a big car you will be happy.
You are the wealth of Mexico, you are the wealth of the Church. I understand that often it is difficult to feel your value when you are continually exposed to the loss of friends or relatives at the hands of the drug trade, of drugs themselves, of criminal organizations that sow terror. It is hard to feel the wealth of a nation when there are no opportunities for dignified work, no possibilities for study or advancement, when you feel your rights are being trampled on, which then leads you to extreme situations. It is difficult to appreciate the value of a place when, because of your youth, you are used for selfish purposes, seduced by promises that end up being untrue.
Nonetheless, despite all this, I will never tire of saying, You are the wealth of Mexico.
Don’t think I am saying this because I am good, or I because I have concise ideas about it; no dear friends, it is not like that. I say this to you and I am convinced of it. And do you know why? Because, like you, I believe in Jesus Christ. And it is he who continually renews in me this hope, it is he who continually renews my outlook. It is he who continually invites me to a conversion of heart. Yes, my friends, I say this because in Jesus I have found the One who is able to bring out the best in me. Hand in hand with him, we can move forward, hand in hand with him we can begin again and again, hand in hand with him we find the strength to say: it is a lie to believe that the only way to live, or to be young, is to entrust oneself to drug dealers or others who do nothing but sow destruction and death. Hand in hand with Jesus Christ we can say: it is a lie that the only way to live as young people here is in poverty and exclusion; in the exclusion of opportunities, in the exclusion of spaces, in the exclusion of training and education, in the exclusion of hope. It is Jesus Christ who refutes all attempts to render you useless or to be mere mercenaries of other people’s ambitions.
You have asked me for a word of hope, and the one word I have to give you, is Jesus Christ. When everything seems too much, when it seems that the world is crashing down around you, embrace his Cross, draw close to him and please, never let go of his hand; please, never leave him. Hand in hand with him it is possible to live fully, by holding his hand it is possible to believe that it is worth the effort to give your best, to be leaven, salt and light among your friends, neighbourhoods, and your community. For this reason, dear friends, holding the hand of Jesus I ask you to not let yourselves be excluded, do not allow yourselves to be devalued, do not let them treat you like a commodity. Of course, you may not be able to have the latest car model at the door, you will not have pockets filled with money, but you will have something that no one can take away from you, which is the experience of being loved, embraced and accompanied. It is the experience of being family, of feeling oneself as part of a community.
Today the Lord continues to call you, he continues to draw you to him, just as he did with the Indian, Juan Diego. He invites you to build a shrine. A shrine that is not a physical place but rather a community, a shrine called “Parish”, a shrine called, “Nation”. Being a community, a family, and knowing that we are citizens is one of the best antidotes to all that threatens us, because it makes us feel that we are a part of the great family of God. This is not an invitation to flee and enclose ourselves, but, on the contrary, to go out and to invite others, to go out and proclaim to others that being young in Mexico is the greatest wealth, and consequently, it cannot be sacrificed.
Jesus would never ask us to be assassins; rather, he calls us to be disciples. He would never send us out to death, but rather everything in him speaks of life. A life in a family, life in a community; families and communities for the good of society.
You are the wealth of this country, and when you doubt this, look to Jesus, he who destroys all efforts to make you useless or mere instruments of other people’s ambitions.
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis on Tuesday visited the cathedral of Morelia, capital of Mexico’s Michoacán state, reminding hundreds of children that to be good Christians they must love God above all else but also love their neighbours as themselves.
The 17th century cathedral, built in the characteristic local pink stone with twin bell towers, was packed with cheering children as the Pope arrived on his way to a meeting with young people later in the afternoon.
Pope Francis met in the sacristy with a group of university rectors and leaders of other Christian communities present in Mexico, before laying a large bunch of flowers on the altar. Then, to the delight of those present, he took the microphone and spoke off the cuff, reminding them to pray for their parents and grandparents, their teachers and all those people who take care of them.
The Pope concluded by blessing the children and reminding them to pray for him too. He then made his way out through the central nave of the cathedral, stopping to greet some of the boys and girls individually.
Among those whom the Pope stopped to talk to for a few moments was a seven year old girl called Lupita who was miraculously cured of a life threatening brain malfunction when she was just three months old. The miracle was attributed to the intercession of Blessed José Sanchez Del Rio, a young boy who joined the ‘Cristero’ movement to defend the Church during Mexico’s civil war in the early 20th century.
The 14 year old was put to death by government officials in 1928 because he refused to renounce his Catholic faith. He was recognized as a martyr on June 22nd 2004 by Pope John Paul II and was beatified on November 20th 2005 in Mexico. Last month Pope Francis approved the miracle, allowing for his canonization to take place later this year.
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis on Tuesday celebrated Holy Mass at a stadium in Morelia, capital of Michoacán, urging Mexican priests, religious and seminarians not to be resigned to the paralyzing injustice of violence, corruption and drug trafficking.
Veronica Scarisbrick is in Mexico following the Pope’s five day pastoral visit to the country and reports on the problems plaguing young people especially in the state of Michoacàn
Listen:
Michoacán was once known as ‘The Garden of New Spain’. But it’s more likely to be referred to today as a flourishing garden of drug cartels. So, a place of unspeakable drug related violence. Interestingly the Holy Mass the Pope celebrated was both in Spanish and in ‘purhépechan’, the indigenous language of this area.
And in this city where the drug cartels are incredibly powerful and permeate people’s lives his homily reflected what he called a ‘permanent system’ of violence with corruption, drug trafficking , disregard for human dignity and indifference in the face of suffering and vulnerability. Confronted with this reality, he strongly insisted we must not be led into temptation, the devil can overcome us with one of his favourite weapons: resignation.
And then Francis spoke of the value of tapping into our memories when we are tempted. In a special way he mentioned the figure of the first Bishop of Michoacán Vasco de Quiroga back in 1536. A man, he explained, who left an interesting legacy.
As I discovered this first Bishop had adopted Thomas More’s ‘Utopia’ as a model. Making quite sure the indigenous people were taught religion, crafts and the fundamentals of self-government. His legacy lives on to this day. Indigenous people have passed down their know how and are masterfully skilled craftsmen, producing from guitars to pottery, from copper products to woven woolens.
Interestingly Pope Francis referred to Vasco de Quiroga in his homily as ‘the Spaniard who became an Indian’. One who spoke of these indigenous people “as being sold, humiliated and homeless in marketplaces, picking up scraps of bread from the ground“. And one the Pope went on to say who far from being tempted to resignation succeeded in kindling the faith in the midst of so much ‘paralyzing injustice’.
‘Paralyzing injustice’, a fitting expression which could relate to today in this land of ‘gentlemen narcos’.
It’s one which affects more than anyone here perhaps the young people of Morelia with whom Pope Francis will meet in at the ‘José Maria Morelos y Pavòn’ stadium.
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis on Tuesday celebrated Mass with priests, seminarians and religious men and women and urged them not to surrender to difficulties posed by situations of violence, corruption, drug trafficking and disregard to human dignity, and he appealed to them to continue proclaiming the message of the Gospel.
The Mass, celebrated in Morelia’s “Venustiano Carranza” Stadium, comes on the penultimate day of his apostolic journey to Mexico.
After his arrival in Morelia, the capital of Michoacan State, the Pope made his way through crowds of people lined up along the motorcade route cheering and waving Vatican flags.
Michoacan State is at the heart of Mexico’s drug-trafficking route, a region wracked by poverty, unemployment, drug violence and corruption.
The Pope’s presence in Morelia is also a sign of his respect for the city’s Archbishop, Alberto Suarez Inda, whom Francis proclaimed Cardinal last year.
In his homily the Pope told those present that their lives “speak of prayer” and that “the school of prayer is the school of life”.
And acknowledging that “temptation can come to us from places often dominated by violence, corruption, drug trafficking, disregard for human dignity, and indifference in the face of suffering and vulnerability”, Pope Francis urged the clergy and all consecrated persons never to succumb to “resignation”.
“A resignation which paralyzes us and prevents us not only from walking, but also from making the journey; a resignation which not only terrifies us, but which also entrenches us in our “sacristies” and false securities; a resignation which not only prevents us from proclaiming, but also inhibits our giving praise. A resignation which not only hinders our looking to the future, but also thwarts our desire to take risks and to change. And so, “Our Father, lead us not into temptation” he said.
Pope Francis also recalled one Mexican evangelizer, first known – he said – as “the Spaniard who became an Indian”.
Among the Indians – the Pope said – he was known as “Tata Vasco”, which in the Purhépechan language means Father.
“The situation of the Purhépechas Indians, whom he described as being “sold, humiliated, and homeless in marketplaces, picking up scraps of bread from the ground”, far from tempting him to listless resignation, succeeded in kindling his faith, strengthening his compassion and inspiring him to carry out plans that were a “breath of fresh air” in the midst of so much paralyzing injustice. The pain and suffering of his brothers and sisters became his prayer, and his prayer led to his response” he said.
(from Vatican Radio)…