Pope gives tough love to Mexico’s political, church elite
Pope to bring message of hope to gritty Mexico City suburb
(about 2 hours later)
MEXICO CITY — Pope Francis challenged Mexico’s political and ecclesial elites on Saturday to provide their people with security, justice and courageous pastoral care to confront the drug-inspired violence and corruption that are wracking the country, delivering a tough-love message to Mexico’s ruling classes on his first full day in the country.
MEXICO CITY — Pope Francis heads into the capital’s crime-ridden suburb of Ecatepec on Sunday to see firsthand the reality of the Mexican “periphery,” where drug violence, gangland-style executions and kidnappings are daily facts of life.
The raucous welcome Francis received from an estimated 1 million cheering Mexicans who lined his motorcade route seven-deep contrasted sharply with his pointed criticism of how church and state leaders here have often failed their people, especially the poorest and most marginalized.
The pontiff is expected to bring a message of hope and solidarity to residents with a Mass featuring readings about not being tempted by the devil — a common exhortation from a pope who frequently invokes the threat of “the evil one.”
“Experience teaches us that each time we seek the path of privileges or benefits for a few to the detriment of the good of all, sooner or later the life of society becomes a fertile soil for corruption, drug trade, exclusion of different cultures, violence and also human trafficking, kidnapping and death, bringing suffering and slowing down development,” he told government authorities at the presidential palace.
The Mass is to take place at an outdoor field with an estimated capacity of 400,000, and the pope’s choice of Ecatepec for what figures to be his biggest event in Mexico says volumes about his priorities.
In a subsequent hard-hitting speech to his own bishops, Francis challenged church leaders known for their deference to Mexico’s wealthy and powerful to courageously denounce the “insidious threat” posed by the drug trade and not hide behind their own privilege and careers.
The city of some 1.6 million people is a sprawling carpet of cinderblock slums mixed in with some better-off neighborhoods. It’s also a strategic point for drug gangs that thrive amid poverty, unemployment and impunity.
He told them to be true pastors, close to their people, and to develop a coherent plan to help Mexicans “finally escape the raging waters that drown so many, either victims of the drug trade or those who stand before God with their hands drenched in blood, though with pockets filled with sordid money and their consciences deadened.”
It will be a strikingly different backdrop from the pageantry of Friday night’s red-carpet welcome at the Mexico City airport, where President Enrique Pena Nieto and first lady Angelica Rivera greeted Francis alongside performances by folkloric dancers and mariachi musicians.
The speech was met with tepid applause, with only a handful of bishops standing in ovation.
Conchita Tellez, 65, from the northwest Mexico border city of Mexicali, said she spent 38 hours on a bus to get to Ecatepec and was among the first in line for a spot at the Mass. She expressed hope Francis can help ease the troubled soul of the country, where 100,000 people have been killed and 27,000 disappeared in gangland violence since Pena Nieto’s predecessor launched an offensive against drug cartels shortly after taking office in late 2006.
Francis’ entire five-day trip to Mexico is shining an uncomfortable spotlight on the church’s shortcomings and the government’s failure to solve entrenched social ills that plague many parts of the country — poverty, rampant drug-inspired gangland killings, extortion, disappearances of women, crooked cops and failed public services.
“The pope comes to Mexico at a very ugly moment,” Tellez said, “and he comes to pray for us and for all those who lost hope and have submerged the country in blood and violence.”
Over the coming days, Francis will travel to the crime-ridden Mexico City suburb of Ecatepec, preach to Indians in poverty-stricken Chiapas, offer solidarity to victims of drug violence in Morelia and, finally, pay respects to migrants who have died trying to reach the United States with a cross-border Mass in Ciudad Juarez.
Francis’ visit to Ecatepec comes a day after his grueling schedule appeared to be already taking a toll. He seemed tired and winded at times Saturday, and he appeared to nod off at an evening Mass and also lost his balance and fell into a chair set up for him to pray.
The grueling schedule appeared to be already taking a toll: By Saturday evening, Francis seemed tired and winded. He appeared to doze off during Mass and lost his balance and fell into a chair set up for him to pray before the image of the Virgin of Guadalupe.
The first two days of the 79-year-old Francis’ trip were filled with back-to-back public events and he logged dozens of kilometers (miles) standing in his popemobile in Mexico City while adjusting to a seven-hour time zone difference from Rome. The capital’s more than 7,000 feet of altitude can also be a challenge for anyone not acclimated, perhaps more so for Francis who lost part of one lung as a young man.
The 79-year-old Francis has had an exhausting two days, with back-to-back public events, dozens of kilometers (miles) spent standing in his popemobile and a seven-hour time zone difference. In addition, Mexico City’s altitude of more than 7,000 feet provides a challenge to anyone not acclimatized, perhaps more for Francis who lost part of one lung as a young man.
On Saturday, he issued a pair of tough-love messages to Mexico’s political and church elite, telling them they have a duty to provide security, justice and courageous pastoral care.
Francis began his first full day in Mexico with a winding ride into the capital’s historic center to the delight of tens of thousands greeting history’s first Latin American pope. Despite an exhausting Friday that involved a historic embrace with the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Francis obliged their demands and stopped to hand out rosaries to the elderly, sick and disabled who gathered in front of his residence.
Speaking to the president and other members of government at the National Palace, the pope said public officials must be honest and not be seduced by corruption and privilege that benefits the few to the detriment of the many.
The mileage that Francis is clocking standing up in his open-air popemobile is a testament to his appreciation of Mexicans’ need to see him up close: After a 14-mile (23-kilometer) nighttime ride in from the airport and the 9 miles (14 kilometers) logged Saturday morning, Francis still has about 93 miles (150 kilometers) more to go in the popemobile before his trip ends Wednesday.
In a subsequent address to his own bishops, he challenged church leaders known for their deference to Mexico’s wealthy and powerful to denounce the “insidious threat” of the drug trade and be true pastors instead of career-minded clerics who spew inoffensive denunciations that make them sound like “babbling orphans beside a tomb.”
In a nod to his thrifty ways, three of the five popemobiles Francis will use are being recycled from his U.S. trip in September. Francis is also sticking to an economy car when he’s not in a popemobile, using a tiny white Fiat to move around.
Francis urged bishops to get close to their flock and help Mexicans “finally escape the raging waters that drown so many, either victims of the drug trade or those who stand before God with their hands drenched in blood, though with pockets filled with sordid money and their consciences deadened.”
Francis began Saturday by meeting with President Enrique Pena Nieto at the presidential palace. He told the president and other members of government that public officials must be honest and upright and not be seduced by privilege or corruption.
Francis ended his public activities Saturday at the Basilica of the Virgin of Guadalupe, which is the largest and most important Marian shrine in the world.
Corruption permeates many aspects of Mexican society, from traffic cops and restaurant inspectors who routinely shake down citizens for bribes, to politicians and police commanders who are sometimes on the payroll of drug cartels. Even Pena Nieto’s administration has been tainted by what critics call fishy real estate dealings by people close to him, including the first lady, with companies that were awarded lucrative state contracts.
After delivering his homily, the pope sat silently in front of the image of the Virgin for nearly five minutes while the Mass continued. Later, he moved into a chamber behind the altar where the image is kept for nearly 30 minutes, fulfilling a wish to pray quietly before Mexico’s patron saint.
Francis said political leaders have a “particular duty” to ensure their people have “indispensable” material and spiritual goods: “adequate housing, dignified employment, food, true justice, effective security, a healthy and peaceful environment.”
“Just by looking at (the Virgin), Mexico can be understood completely,” Francis said earlier.
In his speech, Pena Nieto said he shared Francis’ concerns about hunger, inequality and the dangers of people “letting themselves be carried away by evil.”
The pope’s five-day trip to the world’s largest Spanish-speaking Catholic country is shining an uncomfortable spotlight on government and church shortcomings in dealing with social ills.
Francis then met with his own bishops at the city’s cathedral, issuing a six-page mission statement urging them to be true pastors and not gossiping, career-minded clerics who spew words and inoffensive denunciations that make them sound like “babbling orphans beside a tomb.”
According to government statistics, about 46 percent of Mexicans live in poverty, including 10 percent in extreme poverty. Meanwhile, the homicide rate rose precipitously between 2006 and 2011, before declining somewhat for the next three years and then ticking up again in 2015. Since 2005, at least 1,554 women have disappeared in Mexico state, where Ecatepec is located, according to the National Observatory on Femicide.
Speaking off the cuff, he urged them to maintain unity and show more transparency. “If you have to fight, fight. If you have to say things, say them, but do it like men: to the face,” he said.
On Saturday, vendors hawked pope T-shirts in Ecatepec as thousands of workers and security agents directed pilgrims and kept the peace.
Later in the day, Francis celebrated his first Mass in Mexico at the Basilica of the Virgin of Guadalupe, considered the largest and most important Marian shrine in the world.
Francis’ schedule Sunday includes three popemobile motorcades and a visit to a pediatric hospital. Originally he also intended to meet with cultural figures, but that was nixed when the Vatican delayed his Ecatepec Mass by an hour so worshippers could arrive in the morning rather than camp out overnight in potentially freezing temperatures.
Francis has spoken reverently of his “most intimate desire” to pray before the icon so beloved by Latin Americans, Catholic and not. Thousands packed the square outside to welcome the pontiff, holding balloons and flags in a festive atmosphere befitting a rock star’s welcome.
“The pope is coming to Ecatepec because it needs him and because the faith is reeling,” said Petra Arqueta, a 62-year-old from Morelos who nonetheless spent a night waiting in line. “The poor and the working people are here, and this pope prefers to talk to the humble.”
Catalina Ramirez, 77, said she came to beseech the Virgin and the pope to help her great-granddaughter recover from surgery for cerebral palsy. She added that she was excited to witness her first papal Mass, and hoped that Francis “comes to rescue us.”
Francis’ visit has been cheered by Mexicans who have been treated to six previous papal trips — five by St. John Paul II and one by Benedict XVI — and are known for their enthusiastic welcomes.
Vatican officials estimated 1 million people lined Francis’ motorcade route or attended one of his events Saturday, some watching from rooftops and balconies, and thousands more gathered in Mexico’s main square, known as the Zocalo, to catch a glimpse as he arrived for his meeting with Pena Nieto. Authorities set up huge TV screens that transmitted the scene inside the National Palace.
“What the pope told the president shows he is very aware of the violent situation the country is going through,” said 48-year-old Jose Luis Santana, who watched the pope’s speeches at the Zocalo. “I think (the speech) was good, and hopefully it will be able to change things.”
Francis’ denunciation of the social ills afflicting Mexico reflected the reality of the world’s largest Spanish-speaking Catholic country: According to government statistics, about 46 percent of Mexicans live in poverty, including 10 percent in extreme poverty.
Mexico’s homicide rate rose precipitously after then-President Felipe Calderon launched a war on drug cartels shortly after taking office in 2006, with the bloodshed peaking around 2011. Murders declined somewhat for the next three years after that, before ticking up again in 2015.
Women have been particularly targeted: At least 1,554 women have disappeared in Mexico state, bordering Mexico City, since 2005, according to the National Observatory on Femicide.
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Associated Press writers Peter Orsi, Carlos Rodriguez, Eduardo Castillo, Juan Zamorano and Jacobo Garcia contributed to this report.
Associated Press writer Jacobo Garcia in Ecatepec contributed to this report.
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Nicole Winfield on Twitter: www.twitter.com/nwinfield
Nicole Winfield on Twitter: www.twitter.com/nwinfield
Peter Orsi on Twitter: www.twitter.com/Peter_Orsi
Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
