(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis has just arrived in the Cuban capital Havana where he will have an historic first meeting with the leader of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill. The Patriarch arrived in Cuba yesterday at the start of a three nation tour of Orthodox communities in Latin America, while Pope Francis is on his way to Mexico City, where he’s scheduled to land at around 7.30 this evening local time.
Cuban President Raul Castro was at Havana’s ‘José Martì’ International airport to meet the papal plane and to accompany Pope Francis to the room where the private encounter is taking place.
The two Church leaders are due to meet together for about two hours, accompanied by their translators and their top ecumenical experts, Cardinal Kurt Koch , President of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity and Metropolitan Hilarion, President of the Moscow Patriarch’s Department for External Church Relations.
The Pope and the Patriarch will then exchange gifts and sign a Common Declaration, expected to focus on the plight of Christians in the Middle East and other areas where Catholics and Orthodox can witness together to their common Christian values.
Both leaders will then hold a brief press conference to share their impressions and their hopes for the future of Catholic-Orthodox relations.
You can watch the event live and hear our radio commentary in English on the Vatican YouTube channel .
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis is set to arrive in Mexico on Friday, the third Pope to visit the country. Vatican Radio’s Veronica Scarisbrick is awaiting the Pope in Mexico. She sends us this report:
Listen:
When Pope Francis sets foot on Mexican soil, it will be a moment of great ‘alegria’ or joy for the Mexican people. And the bells of the Cathedral in Mexico City will be rung by 800 volunteers for two hours.
I’m not sure if you ever get used to papal visits but Mexicans certainly have had their fair share of them, seven with that of Francis. But while he may be the third pope to visit after Saint John Paul II, who came here five times in the course of his pontificate, and Benedict XVI, now Pope Emeritus who came in 2012, for Mexicans he’s a pope with a difference.
To start with he’s a ‘Latino’ like them, speaks the same language… although, as I discovered, four million Mexicans have yet to learn Spanish, for in some areas they still speak indigenous languages. No doubt Pope Francis will give some of those languages a try. Mayan ones by the unpronounceable names, perhaps – his way of getting closer to the people.
And then, well, there’s something very deep he shares with the people. And not just Catholics who make up roughly 84 per cent of the population. It’s the devotion to ‘Our Lady of Guadalupe,’ spiritual heart of the nation. On Friday afternoon he’ll celebrate Holy Mass in the Basilica of the Shrine there.
Pope Francis is coming to walk through the peripheries with the people of this nation, which has the second largest Catholic population in the world. To start with he’ll be spending two days in Mexico City where he’s elected the Apostolic Nunciature as his home for the next five nights.
As for the places, well Francis has made some very personal choices: that’s to travel where no Pope has ever been before. This means the southern state of Chiapas, with its majority indigenous population; the western diocese of Morelia, hotspot of the drug cartels; and his final stop, Ciudad Juarez, along the border with the United States, where he’ll celebrate Holy Mass on the heavily guarded Mexican-US border, the largest economic divide in the world .
Naturally there will be more intimate moments, for example when he visits a hospital for children who are terminally ill. And more official moments, for example at the ‘Palacio Nacional’ where on Friday morning he becomes the first Pope to be invited to the seat of the nation’s federal executive where President Enrique Pena Nieto has his office.
Although Pope Francis has said on more than one occasion that he’s not coming to Mexico to solve problems but rather to draw inspiration from the faith of the Guadalupe people, it will be difficult for him to avoid some of the nation’s key issues in his scheduled 15 speeches – questions that centre around economic justice, immigration and the rights of indigenous people in what is Latin America’s second largest economy where, for most, prosperity remains a dream; and where there is stupefying violence.
No surprise then that the ‘Milenio’daily features an eloquent cartoon with the Pope being warmly welcomed at the airport as he steps out on to a pool of blood instead of a red carpet.
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) As is tradition, Pope Francis has sent telegrams to the heads of state of the countries his plane flies over on Friday as he travels to Havana, and then to Mexico.
The telegrams to the European countries the Pope has flown over are presented here in their original languages
Italy
A SUA ECCELLENZA
ON. SERGIO MATTARELLA
PRESIDENTE DELLA REPUBBLICA ITALIANA
PALAZZO DEL QUIRINALE 00187 ROMA
NEL MOMENTO IN CUI LASCIO ROMA PER RECARMI IN MESSICO PER SOSTENERE LA MISSIONE DELLA CHIESA LOCALE E PORTARE UN MESSAGGIO DI SPERANZA, MI E’ CARO RIVOLGERE A LEI, SIGNOR PRESIDENTE, IL MIO DEFERENTE SALUTO, CHE ACCOMPAGNO CON FERVIDI AUSPICI PER IL BENESSERE SPIRITUALE, CIVILE E SOCIALE DEL POPOLO ITALIANO, CUI INVIO VOLENTIERI LA BENEDIZIONE APOSTOLICA
FRANCISCUS PP.
France
HIS EXCELLENCY FRANCOIS HOLLANDE
PRESIDENT OF THE FRENCH REPUBLIC
PARIS
I SEND CORDIAL GREETINGS TO YOUR EXCELLENCY AS I FLY OVER FRANCE ON MY WAY TO MEXICO. I ASSURE YOU AND ALL THE CITIZENS OF THE REPUBLIC OF A REMEMBRANCE IN MY PRAYERS, AND I INVOKE UPON EACH OF YOU GOD’S BLESSINGS OF PEACE AND JOY.
FRANCIS PP
Spain
HIS MAJESTY FELIPE VI
KING OF SPAIN
ZARZUELA PALACE
MADRID
I SEND CORDIAL GREETINGS TO YOUR MAJESTY AND THE ROYAL FAMILY AS I FLY OVER SPAIN ON MY WAY TO MEXICO. I ASSURE YOU AND ALL THE PEOPLE OF THE NATION OF A REMEMBRANCE IN MY PRAYERS, AND I INVOKE UPON EACH OF YOU GOD’S BLESSINGS OF PEACE AND JOY.
FRANCIS PP
Portugal
HIS EXCELLENCY ANIBAL CAVACO SILVA
PRESIDENT OF THE PORTUGUESE REPUBLIC
LISBON
I SEND CORDIAL GREETINGS TO YOUR EXCELLENCY AS I FLY OVER PORTUGAL ON MY WAY TO MEXICO. I ASSURE YOU AND ALL THE PEOPLE OF THE NATION OF A REMEMBRANCE IN MY PRAYERS, AND I INVOKE UPON EACH OF YOU GOD’S BLESSINGS OF PEACE AND JOY.
FRANCIS PP
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis greeted the reporters who joined him on the plane Friday for his apostolic journey to Havana – for a brief meeting with Russian Patriarch Kirill – and Mexico.
The Director of the Holy See Press Office, Father Federico Lombardi, SJ, said the Holy Father had a “beautiful meeting” with the journalists, and called the journey “very important.”
Father Lombardi said the Pope noted it was the final apostolic trip of Alberto Gasbarri, the coordinator of papal journeys, and thanked him for his 47 years of service to the Vatican.
The dean of the Holy See Press Corps, Valentina Alazraki of Mexico’s “Televisa”, gave Pope Francis a sombrero to celebrate his journey to her native country. The Holy Father also revealed to the journalists she gave him some films starring the Mexican comedian Cantinflas earlier in the week to help him prepare for his trip, which Pope Francis said were a “good laugh.”
“My deepest desire is to pause before Our Lady of Guadalupe, this mystery that is studied, and studied, and studied, and there is no human explanation,” Pope Francis said on the plane, adding even scientists say the image is “a thing of God.”
Wall Street Journal correspondent Francis X. Rocca sent a Facebook message from the plane describing an “unusual” and “moving” encounter, with Noel Diaz of ESNE Catholic television in Los Angeles.
“As a child in his native Tijuana, Mexico, Diaz shined shoes for money. So today he knelt down in the aisle and shined the pope’s shoes, then gave him a custom-made shoeshine kit,” Rocca writes. “Diaz told the pope he intended these presents as reminders of the unheralded struggles of ordinary, honest people across Mexico and among immigrants to the U.S.”
Responding to press reports of a papal visit to Colombia, Pope Francis said he could visit the country in 2017 if peace talks between the government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) continue to go forward.
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Speaking on the eve of Pope Francis’ departure for Mexico, the (Vatican) Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, said the Church there is called “to condemn evil and speak up against all negative phenomena such as corruption, drug trafficking, violence and crime which are hindering and delaying the spiritual and material progress of the country.” The cardinal’s remarks came in an interview with the Vatican Television Centre (CTV).
Asked about the main themes of the Pope’s pastoral visit to Mexico, Cardinal Parolin said these themes are common to all his travels and his pontificate such as the themes of “mercy, justice, peace and hope.” However, he said they also include those which are particularly relevant to Mexico as a nation, such as the deep faith of its people and their extraordinary Marian devotion and the amazing culture, both of the nation and its people, including the indigenous communities. The Cardinal said the Pope will also touch on the more negative issues in Mexico such as organized crime, drug trafficking and poverty.
Noting that Pope Francis will visit the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe during his visit, the Secretary of State agreed that this papal journey will have a strong Marian component given the deep devotion of Mexicans for their country’s patron saint, who he said is “right at the centre and the heart” of their history and their lives. He said he was always very moved when he saw “how much veneration and how much trust” are placed in Our Lady of Guadalupe by the people of Mexico.
The theme of this papal visit to Mexico is “Pope Francis: Missionary of mercy and peace” and when asked how this journey can be seen within the context of the Jubilee Year of Mercy, Cardinal Parolin said he believed that through his presence in Mexico the Pope wishes to be “a help to the nation, to the Church of that nation to rediscover and live in its daily life, the proclamation and witness of mercy.” The Cardinal also noted that Pope Francis will meet with a wide variety of people to remind everybody about this challenge to embrace mercy in daily life, from the politicians through to the indigenous people. He said the Pope will be reminding all those he meets during his trip of this need to be merciful.
Asked about the challenges facing the Church in Mexico, Cardinal Parolin said a definite challenge is to condemn “the evil” that is present, “and speak up against all negative phenomena such as corruption, drug trafficking, violence and crime which are hindering and delaying the spiritual and material progress of the country.” The local Church, he continued, also needs to act like” the Good Samaritan” when faced with so many people who suffer and are in need. The cardinal also mentioned the problem of migration and its often negative impact on families who get split up. As ever, Cardinal Parolin said, the Church’s main challenge is to educate the consciences of the people and speak up against the idolatry of money and other negative phenomena. When it comes to the evils of forced migration, arms and drug trafficking, he said Pope Francis will be urging people to fight against these problems and above all to change their hearts.
Turning to Friday’s meeting between Pope Francis and Patriarch Kirill, Cardinal Parolin described this historic meeting as “a great sign of hope” and also an event that gives us the courage to continue to push ahead in the effort to build “an understanding, a meeting and a dialogue.” The Cardinal also said he believed that this meeting in Cuba will have “a big impact” on the ecumenical journey.
(from Vatican Radio)…