Political message on issues such as immigration not expected
VATICAN CITY (CNA)
As the visit of Pope Francis to Mexico Feb. 12-17 draws near, anticipation is building about what he will have to say about hot-button topics such as immigration.
“There is a great joy and expectation for the trip of Pope Francis to Mexico. He is the first Latin American Pope, and the Mexican people feel very close to him,” Mariano Palacios Alcocer, Mexico’s ambassador to the Holy See, told CNA in an interview.
In addition to visiting the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe, which he has said is the primary reason for the visit, Francis will also travel to Chiapas, one of the poorest regions in the country, and to the U.S. border city Ciudad Ju rez, where he will celebrate Mass for a crowd expected to be hundreds of thousands from both countries.
He will visit a prison and meet with workers there.
“We consider that the theme of migration is an issue that is on the Pope’s agenda,” Alcocer said, but he doesn’t expect a political message. “The visit of the Pope is of a purely pastoral character.”
Mexico will celebrate 24 years of full diplomatic relations with the Holy See in February. Of the country’s 120 million citizens, 100 million are Catholic. With 15 million of these citizens immigrating to the U.S., the Pope’s trip is extremely significant, Alcocer said.
In addition to immigration, the Pope is also expected to address other major topics for Mexico such as the issues indigenous people face, the role of the family, and youth.
“Mexico was the door to evangelization on the America continent,” the ambassador noted.
The Vatican announced Jan. 25 that Pope Francis will take part in an ecumenical ceremony in Lund, Sweden, to commemorate the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation.
The event will “will highlight the solid ecumenical developments between Catholics and Lutherans and the joint gifts received through dialogue,” according to a joint press release of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity (PCPCU) and the Lutheran World Federation (LWF).
It will include prayers according to the recently published “Common Prayer,” a jointly-written Catholic and Lutheran liturgical guide prepared for the Reformation anniversary events.
