(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis on Wednesday evening departed from Ciudad Juarez at the end of his Apostolic Journey to Mexico.
The Holy Father finished his visit much as he began: with a prayer to the Virgin of Guadalupe for the Mexican people. “May Mary, Mother of Guadalupe, continue to walk on your lands, helping you to be missionaries and witnesses of mercy and reconciliation .”
Veronica Scarisbrick was in Mexico with Pope Francis and sent us this report on the conclusion of the Pope’s visit :
Listen to the report:
The people of Mexico are certainly not used to wearing their hearts on their sleeves. Or not anyway when it comes to Pope Francis. And as he came to their nation as ‘a messenger of peace’ they opened up their hearts and lifted up their faces towards him.
And he was grateful, struck by their love for him, by their joy, by their constant request that he bless them, expressing in private his wonder at their disinterested affection.
In turn he was giving with the Mexican people. In a special way with those on the margins of society.
In this land of contrasts where religiosity and popular piety run deep and where helpless violence reigns he had come for almost a week to walk ‘through the peripheries with them’, the people of Mexico.
And as he departed he said: “Thank you for having opened the doors of your lives to me, the doors of your nation”.
And then Francis quoted from a poem by Nobel laureate Octavio Paz by the title of ‘Brotherhood’. One where this Mexican poet speaks of the vastness of the night, of how if we look up to the skies: the stars hold a written message, one we too are part of. One which is spelt out for us”.
And Francis commented: ‘I dare to suggest that the one who spells out this message for us and indicates a path for us to follow is the mysterious but real presence of God, in the real flesh of all people especially the poorest and most needy” .
Throughout his six days in Mexico Pope Francis has, as a man of God, during this Year of Mercy, visited places where most people fear to tread. From the sprawling lawless ‘barrio bravo’ of Ecatepec where desperate people alleviate their pain by painting colour on to their miserable homes, to Mexico City’s hospital for gravely sick children, to Chiapas were indigenous people have suffered abuse and to whom he asked forgiveness for the Church’s wrongs of the past, to chillingly drug ridden Michoacán where young people are caught in a web of despair, to Ciudad Juarez where he met with the inmates of a high security prison and with immigrants with their dashed dreams.
But he had a message for the men and women of God in this nation as well. To them he expressed the wish that: “Mexican people might find, reflected in their faces, the Lord, the presence of God”. And on another occasion invited them not to be tempted by resignation in the face of ‘paralyzing injustice”.
And upon his departure Pope Francis said to the people of Mexico, nights here can seem vast and filled with great darkness. Despite this, he added, in many of your faces I have encountered the presence of God.
God who carries on walking in this land, guiding you, sustaining you in hope. Many of you with your daily efforts make it possible for Mexican society not to be shrouded in darkness. You are tomorrow’s prophets; you are the sign of a new dawn.
Pope Francis’ visit here has surely provided Mexicans with a cone of light from the skies in the midst of a sea of darkness.
But like his first words here in Mexico , his last were dedicated to the Mother of the nation, ‘Our Lady of Guadalupe’.
Already upon his arrival in Mexico Pope Francis had quoted ‘Octavio Paz’ who once described Guadalupe, the spiritual heart of the nation, as a place of rest where people orphaned and disinherited, might seek a place of refuge, a home.
And as Pope Francis bade farewell to Mexico he said: ”May Mary, Mother of Guadalupe, continue to walk on your lands, helping you to be missionaries and witnesses of mercy and reconciliation “.
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis concluded his Apostolic Visit to Mexico on Wednesday, thanking the Mexican people for their welcome .
The Aeromexico Boeing that is bringing Pope Francis back to the Vatican at the end of his 12th Apostolic Journey abroad has taken off from the International Airoport of Ciudad Juarez.
And it was the Mexican airline that flew him throughout his visit during which he travelled from Mexico City to Chiapas, Morelia, and Chihuahua.
As reported on the airline webpage, Pope Francis is an easy passenger: “Known for his humility and simple taste, very few special accommodations have been made to welcome the Pope onboard. Meal service has been arranged with suggestions from the Vatican, and the Boeing Dreamliner 787 has been equipped to host an onboard press conference. True to his reputation, the Pope has very humble needs for a head of state”.
Pope Francis is the third Pope to be flown by Mexico’s oldest airline, after Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI.
He is scheduled to touch down at Rome’s Ciampino Airport on Thursday, 18 February, in the afternoon.
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis celebrated Holy Mass on Wednesday at Mexico’s northern border, and spoke of the thousands of migrants who have died trying to reach the United States.
As Veronica Scarisbrick reports he appealed for governments to open their hearts, if not their borders, to the ‘human tragedy that is forced migration’ and he implored: `No more death! No more exploitation!’
Listen :
Ciudad Juarez in northern Mexico would appear to be on the “wrong side of the border”.It’s here that thousands of immigrants, today mostly from Central America, attempt to cross over to ‘El Norte’, on the “right side of the border” fleeing from extreme poverty and violence in search of a better future.
Curious how in this land of contrasts this desolate border rife with unspeakable violence, with its chain link fence (the largest economic divide in the world) for some is a symbol of hope.
It’s here that Pope Francis in the course of his last homily in Mexico during Holy Mass on Wednesday 17th of February highlighted the plight of thousands of migrants who reach here by train or on foot, journeying for hundreds of kilometres across mountains, deserts and inhospitable zones.
Upon his arrival at the venue for the mass Pope Francis had knelt by a giant great black cross planted high by the banks of the ‘Rio Grande’, on the border with the United States. It was a moving moment in this place by the chain link fence where so many have lost their lives attempting to cross over. And the Pope symbolically blessed a pair of worn shoes and a pair of worn sandals placed there for the occasion. And then stood for a moment looking out towards the United States where the crowds pressed against the chain link fence waved from across the river.
And in his homily Francis had powerful words: “No more death! No more exploitation! It’s not too late for change, for a way out, a time to implore the mercy of God. In this Year of Mercy, with you here, I beg for God’s mercy”, Pope Francis insisted, “With you I wish to plead for the gift of tears, the gift of conversion”.
And then he went on to highlight how the human tragedy that is forced migration is a global phenomenon today. This crisis he said: “which can be measured in numbers and statistics, should be measured instead with names, stories, families. They are the brothers and sisters of those expelled by poverty and violence, by drug trafficking and criminal organizations. Being faced with so many legal vacuums, they get caught up in a web that ensnares and always destroys the poorest. Not only do they suffer poverty but they must also endure these forms of violence. Young people are “cannon fodder”, persecuted and threatened when they try to flee the spiral of violence and the hell hole of drugs. And what can we say about all the women who have been killed here”…
On this occasion in Ciudad Juarez Pope Francis also mentioned the commitment of those who work on the front lines, often at the risk of their lives in an effort to support the rights of migrants describing them as prophets of mercy.
It is a time for conversion, Pope Francis insisted, a time for conversion, a time for salvation, a time for mercy.
With Pope Francis in Mexico, I’m Veronica Scarisbrick
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis has thanked the people of Mexico for having made possible his apostolic visit.
At a brief farewell ceremony at the fairgrounds in Juárez City where he had just celebrated Holy Mass, and before travelling to the International Airport at the conclusion of his six-day journey, the Pope thanked the great Mexican family for having opened the doors of their lives and of their nation.
He also quoted the Mexican writer, Octavio Paz, and entrusted the Mexican people to the Virgin of Guadalupe.
Please find below the translation of the full text of the Pope’s farewell greeting:
Dear Bishop José Guadalupe Torres Campos of Juárez City,
Dear Brothers in the Episcopate,
Your Excellencies,
Dear friends,
Thank you very much, Your Excellency, for your kind words of farewell. Now is the moment to give thanks to Our Lord for having granted me this visit to Mexico.
I do not want to leave without giving thanks for the efforts of all who made this pilgrimage possible. I thank all the state and local authorities for your attention and solicitous assistance that have contributed to the smooth running of this pastoral visit just as I also thank wholeheartedly those who have offered their contribution in different ways. To all those anonymous helpers who quietly gave of their very best to make these days a great family celebration: thank you. I have felt welcomed and warmly received by the love, the celebration, the hope of this great Mexican family: thank you for having opened the doors of your lives to me, the doors of your nation.
The Mexican writer Octavio Paz says in his poem Hermandad:
“I am a man: I only last a brief while, and the night is vast.
But I look up: the stars are writing.
Without grasping I understand: I am also the writing
and in this very instant someone is spelling me out”
(Un sol más vivo. Antología poética, Ed. Era, México 2014, 268).
Taking up these beautiful words, I dare to suggest that the one who spells us out and marks out the road for us is the mysterious but real presence of God in the real flesh of all people, especially the poorest and most needy of Mexico.
The night can seem vast and very dark, but in these days I have been able to observe that in this people there are many lights who proclaim hope; I have been able to see in many of their testimonies, in many of their faces, the presence of God who carries on walking in this land, guiding you, sustaining hope; many men and women, with their everyday efforts, make it possible for this Mexican society not to be left in darkness. They are tomorrow’s prophets, they are the sign of a new dawn.
May Mary, Mother of Guadalupe, continue to visit you, continue to walk on your lands, helping you to be missionaries and witnesses of mercy and reconciliation.
Once again, thank you very much.
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis has decried the grave injustices perpetrated against the thousands of migrants fleeing poverty and violence and condemned the trafficking of human beings.
Celebrating Mass in Ciudad Juárez, the last public event of his Mexican visit, the Pope spoke of the global phenomenon of forced migration .
“Here in Ciudad Juárez, as in other border areas – he said – there are thousands of immigrants from Central America and other countries, not forgetting the many Mexicans who also seek to pass over “to the other side”. Each step, a journey laden with grave injustices: the enslaved, the imprisoned and extorted; so many of these brothers and sisters of ours are the consequence of a trade in human beings”.
The Pope’s homily came during a Mass in the Fair area of Juárez City filled with over 200,000 faithful.
He was also reaching out to the more than 30,000 faithful participating in the event thanks to a livestream of the ceremony being broadcast in a football stadium just across the border in the West Texas city of El Paso.
Please find below the translation of Pope Francis’ homily for the Mass at the Ciudad Juárez Fair Grounds:
In the second century Saint Irenaeus wrote that the glory of God is the life of man. It is an expression which continues to echo in the heart of the Church. The glory of the Father is the life of his sons and daughters. There is no greater glory for a father than to see his children blossom, no greater satisfaction than to see his children grow up, developing and flourishing. The first reading that we have just heard points to this. The great city of Nineveh, was self-destructing as a result of oppression and dishonour, violence and injustice. The grand capital’s days were numbered because the violence within it could not continue. Then the Lord appeared and stirred Jonah’s heart: the Father called and sent forth his messenger. Jonah was summoned to receive a mission. “Go”, he is told, because in “forty days Nineveh shall be overthrown” (Jon 3:4). Go and help them to understand that by the way they treat each other, ordering and organizing themselves, they are only creating death and destruction, suffering and oppression. Make them see this is no way to live, neither for the king nor his subjects, nor for farm fields nor for the cattle. Go and tell them that they have become used to this degrading way of life and have lost their sensitivity to pain. Go and tell them that injustice has infected their way of seeing the world. “Therefore, go Jonah!”. God sent him to testify to what was happening, he sent him to wake up a people intoxicated with themselves.
In this text we find ourselves before the mystery of divine mercy. Mercy, which always rejects wickedness, takes the human person in great earnest. Mercy always appeals to the latent and numbed goodness within each person. Far from bringing destruction, as we so often desire or want to bring about ourselves, mercy seeks to transform each situation from within. Herein lies the mystery of divine mercy. It seeks and invites us to conversion, it invites us to repentance; it invites us to see the damage being done at every level. Mercy always pierces evil in order to transform it.
The king listened to Jonah, the inhabitants of the city responded and penance was decreed. God’s mercy has entered the heart, revealing and showing wherein our certainty and hope lie: there is always the possibility of change, we still have time to transform what is destroying us as a people, what is demeaning our humanity. Mercy encourages us to look to the present, and to trust what is healthy and good beating in every heart. God’s mercy is our shield and our strength.
Jonah helped them to see, helped them to become aware. Following this, his call found men and women capable of repenting, and capable of weeping. To weep over injustice, to cry over corruption, to cry over oppression. These are tears that lead to transformation, that soften the heart; they are the tears that purify our gaze and enable us to see the cycle of sin into which very often we have sunk. They are tears that can sensitize our gaze and our attitude hardened and especially dormant in the face of another’s suffering. They are the tears that can break us, capable of opening us to conversion.
This word echoes forcefully today among us; this word is the voice crying out in the wilderness, inviting us to conversion. In this Year of Mercy, with you here, I beg for God’s mercy; with you I wish to plead for the gift of tears, the gift of conversion.
Here in Ciudad Juárez, as in other border areas, there are thousands of immigrants from Central America and other countries, not forgetting the many Mexicans who also seek to pass over “to the other side”. Each step, a journey laden with grave injustices: the enslaved, the imprisoned and extorted; so many of these brothers and sisters of ours are the consequence of a trade in human beings.
We cannot deny the humanitarian crisis which in recent years has meant migration for thousands of people, whether by train or highway or on foot, crossing hundreds of kilometres through mountains, deserts and inhospitable zones. The human tragedy that is forced migration is a global phenomenon today. This crisis which can be measured in numbers and statistics, we want instead to measure with names, stories, families. They are the brothers and sisters of those expelled by poverty and violence, by drug trafficking and criminal organizations. Being faced with so many legal vacuums, they get caught up in a web that ensnares and always destroys the poorest. Not only do they suffer poverty but they must also endure these forms of violence. Injustice is radicalized in the young; they are “cannon fodder”, persecuted and threatened when they try to flee the spiral of violence and the hell of drugs, not to mention the tragic predicament of the many women whose lives have been unjustly taken.
Let us together ask our God for the gift of conversion, the gift of tears, let us ask him to give us open hearts like the Ninevites, open to his call heard in the suffering faces of countless men and women. No more death! No more exploitation! There is still time to change, there is still a way out and a chance, time to implore the mercy of God.
Just as in Jonas’ time, so too today may we commit ourselves to conversion; may we be signs lighting the way and announcing salvation. I know of the work of countless civil organizations working to support the rights of migrants. I know too of the committed work of so many men and women religious, priests and lay people in accompanying migrants and in defending life. They are on the front lines, often risking their own lives. By their very lives they are prophets of mercy; they are the beating heart and the accompanying feet of the Church that opens its arms and sustains.
This time for conversion, this time for salvation, is the time for mercy. And so, let us say together in response to the suffering on so many faces: In your compassion and mercy, Lord, have pity on us … cleanse us from our sins and create in us a pure heart, a new spirit (cf. Ps 50).
I would like to take this occasion to send greeting from here to our dear sisters and brothers who are with us now, beyond the border, in particular those who are gathered in the University of El Paso Stadium; it’s known as the Sun Bowl, and they are led by monsignor Mark Seitz. With the help of technology, we can pray, sing and together celebrate the merciful love that the Lord gives us and that no border can stop us from sharing. Thank you brothers and sisters at El Paso of making us feel like one family and one, same, Christian community.
(from Vatican Radio)…