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| Pope Francis on his way to Mexico Photo: AP |
The petitions are for almost everything: the environmental devastation, for Tajamar, for the victims of [priestly] pederasty, for AIDS patients, against GM corn, for the dead of the drug war, the disappeared, the tortured, the 43 Ayotzinapa students, for the victims of the Mountain Region of Guerrero [poor, isolated, indigenous region that was hit by severe double hurricanes in 2013].
The visit of Pope Francisco to Mexico has triggered organizations and human rights activists, families and activists to put their energies into asking the Pope to take a strong stance against President Enrique Peña Nieto. Not only have the parents of 43 normal school students who were disappeared from Iguala, Guerrero, sought his intercession, hoping that a position in favor of the victims might help resolve the case, but also also hundreds of families of the 27,000 disappeared.
Friday, as the Pope was arriving, all kinds of organizations sent letters and asked him to intercede and speak to Peña Nieto aboutn the social, environmental and human rights crises that prevail during the current administration.
Even groups of families who will fill the "Victor Manuel Reyna" Zoque Stadium [in Tuxtla Gutierrez, capital of Chiapas] the afternoon of February 15 have organized a single request to the Pope of Rome: for fidelity within families. Rarámuris [indigenous people] of Chihuahua, in turn, requested the intervention of Pope Francisco to provide food to the Sierra Tarahumara.
On Friday, Pope Francis sent his condolences to the families of the 49 victims of the fight in the Topo Chico prison, the worst incident of its kind in recent years.
"The Holy Father, while invoking the loving protection of Our Lady of Guadalupe, affectionately imparts the comforting apostolic blessing as a sign of consolation and hope in this time of sadness," said a message from the Apostolic Nunciature.The fight in the prison in Monterrey [Nuevo Leon] came one day before the pontiff's visit to the country. The authorities have said it was the result of a dispute over control of the prison by two factions of the Zetas drug cartel. On Wednesday, Francis plans to go to a prison in another city, Ciudad Juarez [state of Chihuahua], on the border with El Paso, Texas.
Francis said his biggest wish for his trip to Mexico is just to pray before the shrine to the Virgin of Guadalupe. Speaking to reporters en route to hisr first stop in Havana, Francis said he knows that the Virgin is loved both among Catholics and among those who are not.
"It's a mystery that they study and study, and there is no human explanation, The scientific study says that this is something done by God. This is what I will tell the Mexicans, even those who say 'I'm an atheist, but I'm a believer in Guadalupe".Then he corrected himself: "Some Mexicans. Not all are atheists."Francis arrived Friday night at the Mexico City airport and was transferred in the popemobile to the Apostolic Nunciature, a distance of 19 kilometers [12 miles, from the east side to the west side of the city] , illuminated by Mexicans with their mobile phones or flashlights to welcome him.
During his visit to the country, his first as pontiff, Jorge Mario Bergoglio will visit six locations and discuss the violence in the country, immigration and the marginalization of broad sectors of society, including the indigenous. Spanish original