I want to help bring peace to Mexico: Pope Francis

Pontiff urges prayer to Our Lady of Guadalupe, ‘Mexico’s mother’

VATICAN CITY
(CNA/EWTN News)

Pope Francis has said the primary reason for his visit to Mexico Feb. 12-17 is to visit the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe.

He will also travel to the border U.S. border city Ciudad Juarez, as well as Chiapas, one of the poorest regions in the country.

In an interview with Mexican news agency Notimex State he told citizens of the crime-ridden country that while there, he hopes to be a messenger of peace, which must be struggled for daily.

“Violence, corruption, war, children who cannot go to school because of their countries at war, trafficking, arms manufacturers who sell weapons so that the wars in the world can continue: more or less this is the climate in which we are living in the world today,” the Pope said.

Echoing the Prayer of St. Francis of Assisi, the Pope said, “I would like to be an instrument of peace in Mexico,” but “It is obvious that I cannot do it alone, it would be crazy if I said that, but with all of you, an instrument of peace.”

Peace is something that is “kneaded with your hands” every day through small gestures of charity. “Peace is born from tenderness, peace is born from understanding, peace is born or made with dialogue, not in rupture,” he said, and emphasized the importance of dialogue in the various areas and environments of one’s life.

Francis said that he’s not coming to Mexico as a “Wise Man” with a list of messages, ideas or solutions to problems, but rather as “a pilgrim” who wants to receive from the people and culture he encounters.

“I’m going to look for the wealth of faith that you have, I’ll try to be contaminated by that wealth of faith,” he said, adding that Mexico has an “idiosyncrasy, a way of being that is the result of a very long journey, of a history that was slowly forged” with both joy and sorrow, success and failure.

Above all, Mexico has the wealth of refusing to be “orphans” because of their Mother, he said, referring to the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe. This, Francis said, is perhaps “the greatest wealth that I will seek.”

He encouraged Mexico’s citizens to pray to Our Lady of Guadalupe, “Mexico’s mother,” for assistance in achieving peace in the country plagued by violence and drug trafficking.

The Pope said he’s going to pray to Our Lady of Guadalupe on behalf of Mexico’s citizens, “that she gives you peace of heart, of family, of city, and of country.” He asked that “you leave me alone for a little while before the image. It is the favour I ask.

Veneration of Our Lady of Guadalupe dates from the 16th century, when Mary left a miraculous image of herself on a tilma, made from a piece of poor-quality cactus cloth.

It all started when a “Lady from Heaven” appeared to St. Juan Diego, a poor Indian from Tepeyac, on a hill northwest of Mexico City. Over the course of a series of apparitions in 1531, the woman, who identified herself as the Mother of the True God, instructed Juan Diego to have the bishop build a church on the site.

As a sign, the now-famous image of Our Lady of Guadalupe, was imprinted miraculously on his tilma. Both the image and the tilma remain intact after more than 470 years.

The Pope said that when he thinks of Our Lady of Guadalupe, he things of “safety and tenderness.”

He said that he frequently prays to her whenever he has a problem or when he doesn’t know how to react to a bad situation. When these things happen, the Pope said he likes to repeat Mary’s words to St. Juan Diego during one of her apparitions: “Do not be afraid. Am I not here who am your Mother?”

“This is what I feel: that she is a Mother, that she cares, protects, carries a people forward, conducts a family, that she gives warmth to the home, tenderly caresses and takes away the fear. That’s what I feel in front of the image.”

Pope Francis explained that during one of his two previous visits to the shrine before his election, someone attempted to explain the symbolic image to him, but he declined and preferred to sit in silence before the “talkative” image.

In the interview, Pope Francis said Faith is born from an encounter with Jesus, our Saviour. He asked Mexicans not to keep their faith inside, but to go out “to the streets,” and become visible in public life. He said faith must become “a public faith. And faith becomes stronger when is public, especially in times of crisis.”

Mexico has “martyrs in your history who gave their lives to follow this path.” Mexicans must not stay locked up inside with Jesus, but let Him out, because “if we don’t go out, He doesn’t go out.”

He said that to renew one’s faith in this way means not being afraid of conflicts, but instead means searching for solutions.

While this might have its risks, the Pope reminded Mexicans of Mary’s words to Juan Diego: “Do not be afraid to go out; do not be afraid, my little son, my little daughter. Am I not here who am your mother?”