“Only a Church able to shelter the faces of
men and women who knock on her doors will be able to speak to them of God….
We do not need ‘princes’, but rather a community of the Lord’s witnesses.” Pope
Francis addressed a long and passionate speech to the bishops of Mexico on
Saturday morning, 13 February, in the Cathedral of the Assumption in Mexico
City. It was an address in which the Pontiff touched on the serious challenges
which the country is facing, including migration and crime. Expressing his
trust in the ability of the country and of the Church to walk on the path of
peace and justice, the Pope said that he “is sure that Mexico and its Church”,
he said, “will make it in time to that rendezvous with themselves, with history
and with God”. The Pope’s address to the bishops…
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis on Sunday made his way through one of Mexico City’s most lawless neighborhoods, Ecatepec, to celebrate Mass for a massive crowd of faithful. Fr. Federico Lombardi, Director of the Holy See Press Office, spoke to Veronica Scarisbrick about the exuberant welcome received by the Pope from the Mexican people. Listen to their full conversation:
Pope Francis, Fr. Lombardi said, has said his main sentiment regarding his welcome in Mexico is gratitude. “He feels that these people who come in the street to show him love, joy for his coming, desire of blessing is something that expresses a love that is without interest, without looking for something material. In this sense, his experience of meeting the people is meeting them in a spiritual way, a joyful way.” Messenger of mercy and peace He said the key to the Holy Father’s Apostolic Journey to Mexico is his coming as a messenger of mercy and peace . The people “understand the presence of someone that is giving to them mercy, love and hope to progress toward peace, if they have a Christian attitude, responsibility, and solidarity for others, as the Pope says the Gospel requires.” The Pope has drawn massive crowds to his events, and Fr. Lombardi said, “This movement of this many, many hundreds of thousands of people on the street … I think is giving off its fruits in the sense which the Pope hopes: a growth in hope, in mercy, and solidarity.” He said Pope Francis’ prayer before the Virgin of Guadalupe on Saturday is “always the atmosphere in which the Pope encounters the people of Mexico, and he asked the Mother of God to bless this people and to help this people to have hope [for] a better future. The problems are very hard, but the Pope encourages them not to be desperate, to try to build a world in which mutual understanding, solidarity, can really confront the situation.” Sunday Mass in Ecatepec Speaking about the Holy Father’s Mass in Ecatepec on Sunday, Fr. Lombardi said, “The people were listening to the Pope very willingly, they had waited for the Pope in a very cool night and morning, but they were very happy to meet the Pope. I think this Mass has been the most massive Mass that we have experienced. In this anonymous and terrific town, the message of love, of solidarity, of being together in love and hope is something very fundamental. We can see how the message of the gospel is needed to be human in this world.” Pope Francis at the end of the Mass told the people to not dialogue with the devil . Fr. Lombardi said his was a very traditional message, which “sometimes seems to be too simple, but in reality it [hits at] the profound roots of the problem. Without a conversion in the heart of everyone and also in society, we will not confront the problem of violence, the problem of disparity, and the unjust distribution of wealth. The origins of the problem are exactly in the temptations of Christ.” (from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) On Monday Pope Francis flies south west to Chiapas landing in this most southern Mexican state’s capital city, Tuxtla Gutiérrez, before making his way to San Cristóbal de las Casas. He’ll be returning there in the evening to meet with families before returning to Mexico City.
Listen to Veronica Scarisbrick’s report:
Cristobal de las Casas is a tourist haunt which lies along the border with Guatemala. A border traditionally poorly guarded and a place of entry into Mexico for migrants from Central America.
But the reason tourists come here is to visit some of the most striking archaeological sites in Mexico, ‘Mayan’ ruins in misty jungles.
And it’s that word ‘Mayan’ that brings the Pope here. Chiapas is home to one of the largest indigenous populations in the country with twelve federally recognized ethnicities. Among them ‘Chamulans’, a subset of the ‘Tzotzil Mayas’ who make up a third of Chiapa’s nearly one million indigenous people.
Much of the state’s history is centered on the subjugation of these peoples with occasional rebellions. The last of these rebellions was the 1994 Zapatista uprising, which succeeded in obtaining new rights for indigenous people.
And Pope Francis is coming to celebrate Holy Mass in a stadium at San Cristobal de las Casas. The celebration will include three indigenous languages, ‘tseltal’, ‘ch’ol’ and ‘tsotil’.
It’s here that from 1959 to 1999 Bishop Samuel Ruiz learnt these Mayan languages in an effort to communicate with the indigenous people and from here he rode his mule into the hills travelling to remote areas where they lived in dire poverty. It is here that he gave value to local traditions, education, social justice and care of ‘Mother Earth’.
It was also here that ‘the Bishop of the Poor’ or ‘Tata’, father as they called him in the Mayan languages is now buried at the heart of the Cathedral Pope Francis will visit after Holy Mass.
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis on Sunday visited the “Federico Gómez” Pediatric Hospital in Mexico City.
He told the children ” I ask God to bless you, and to accompany you and your families, and all those people who work in this home and try to ensure that your smiles grow day by day.”
The hospital was inaugurated in 1943 and it was visited by Pope St John Paul II on his journey to Mexico in 1979.
Below is an English translation of the Pope’s words:
Greeting of Pope Francis
Visit to the “Federico Gómez” Pediatric Hospital
Sunday 14 February 2016
Mr President,
Madam First Lady,
Madam Secretary for Health,
Director,
Members of the Board of Governors,
Families here present,
Dear Children,
Friends one and all,
Good afternoon. I thank God for granting me this opportunity to come and visit you, to join you and your families in this hospital. To share a little of your life and of those who work here: the doctors, nurses, personnel, and volunteers who help. Thank you.
There is a very brief passage in the Gospel which tells us something of Jesus’ childhood. He was very small, just like some of you. One day, his parents, Joseph and Mary, took him up to the Temple to present him to God. And while there they met an old man called Simeon who, upon seeing Jesus, was very moved and filled with joy and gratitude. He took Jesus in his arms and held him close, and began to bless the Lord. Looking at Jesus inspired him in two ways: the feeling of gratitude and the desire to bless.
Simeon is “the uncle” who teaches us these two attitudes: gratitude and then blessing.
For my part (and not only because of my age), I feel I can relate well with these two lessons of Simeon. On the one hand, entering here and seeing your eyes, your smiles, your faces, has filled me with a desire to give thanks. Thank you for the kind way that you welcomed me, thank you for recognizing the tenderness with which you are cared for and accompanied. Thank you for the efforts of many who are doing their best so that you can get better quickly.
It is very important that we feel cared for and accompanied, to feel loved and to know that all these workers here are looking for the best way to care for us. To each of these people, I say, “Thank you”.
And at the same time, I wish to bless you. I ask God to bless you, and to accompany you and your families, and all those people who work in this home and try to ensure that your smiles grow day by day. May God bless each person… not only doctors but also those who provide “kindness-therapy” thus making the time spent here more enjoyable.
Have you ever heard of the Indian Juan Diego? When his uncle was sick, he was quite worried and distressed. Then, the Virgin of Guadalupe appeared to him and said, “Let not your heart be disturbed or upset by anything. Am I not here with you, I who am your mother?”
We have Mary as our Mother, and so let us ask her to give us the gift of her son, Jesus. Let us close our eyes and ask her to give us what our hearts seek today, and then let us pray together,
Hail Mary…
May the Lord and the Blessed Virgin of Guadalupe remain with you always. Thank you very much. And please, do not forget to pray for me.
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Following Mass on Sunday, Pope Francis led the people gathered at Ecatepec in the traditional Angelus prayer.
During his address, the Holy Father invited the people to remember, and be thankful for, God’s blessings.
Below, please find the full text of Pope Francis’ prepared remarks for his Angelus address:
Angelus
Centro de Estudios de Ecatepec
Sunday 14 February 2016
My Dear Brothers and Sisters,
In the first reading of this Sunday, Moses offers a directive to the people. At harvest time, a the time of abundance and first fruits, do not forget your beginnings. Thanksgiving is something which is born and grows among a people capable of remembering. It is rooted in the past, and through good and bad times, it shapes the present. In those moments when we can offer thanks to God for the earth giving us its fruits and thereby helping us make bread, Moses invites his people to remember by enumerating the difficult situations through which it has passed (cf. Deut 26:5-11).
On this festive day we can celebrate how good the Lord has been to us. Let us give thanks for this opportunity to be together, to present to our Good Father the first fruits of our children, our grandchildren, of our dreams and our plans; the first fruits of our cultures, our languages and traditions, the first fruits of our concerns… How much each one of you has suffered to reach this moment, how much you have “walked” to make this day a day of feasting, a time of thanksgiving. How much others have walked, who have not arrived here and yet because of them we have been able to keep going. Today, at the invitation of Moses, as a people we want to remember, we want to be the people that keeps alive the memory of God who passes among his People, in their midst. We look upon our children knowing that they will inherit not only a land, a culture and a tradition, but also the living fruits of faith which recalls the certainty of God’s passing through this land. It is a certainty of closeness and solidarity, a certainty which helps us lift up our heads and ardently hope for the dawn.
I too join you in this remembrance, in this living memory of God’s passing through your lives. As I look upon your children I cannot but make my own the words which Blessed Pope Paul VI addressed to the Mexican people:
“A Christian cannot but show solidarity… to solve the situation of those who have not yet received the bread of culture or the opportunity of an honourable job… he cannot remain insensitive while the new generations have not found the way to bring into reality their legitimate aspirations”. He continued offering this invitation to “always be on the front line of all efforts… to improve the situation of those who suffer need”, to see in every man a brother and, in every brother Christ” ( Radio Message on the 75 Anniversary of the Crowning of Our Lady of Guadalupe, 12 October 1970).
I invite you once again today to be on the front line, to be first in all the initiatives which help make this blessed land of Mexico a land of opportunities, where there will be no need to emigrate in order to dream, no need to be exploited in order to work, no need to make the despair and poverty of many the opportunism of a few, a land that will not have to mourn men and women, young people and children who are destroyed at the hands of the dealers of death.
This land is filled with the perfume of la Guadalupana who has always gone before us in love. Let us say to her:
Blessed Virgin, “help us to bear radiant witness to communion, service, ardent and generous faith, justice and love of the poor, that the joy of the Gospel may reach to the ends of the earth, illuminating even the fringes of our world. ( EG 288).
(from Vatican Radio)…