“The papal visit to Mexico is not motivated by electoral interests.”
The Apostolic Nuncio to this Central American country, Christophe Pierre, emphasised this in order to stop controversies and exploitation: “The visit of Benedict XVI is eminently religious and without any electoral overtones.”
Besides, the Pope himself mentioned this during the audience granted this February 10th to members of the John Paul II Foundation for the Sahel, led by Cardinal Robert Sarah, President of the Pontifical Council “Cor Unum”.
The duty of the Church is not “to make political transformations nor to change the social fabric, but to announce Christ.”
Therefore, “charity must motivate all our actions. This is not about wanting a “customized” world but about loving it. That is why the Church is not primarily focused on transforming the political order or making social changes. It wants to bring the light of Christ. It is He that will transform everything and everyone. It is because of Christ that Christian contribution is so special.”
The Christian mandate, Benedict XVI emphasizes, is to “bear witness that Christ is alive and that his love goes beyond any religion, race and culture, it is important for them too”.
Meanwhile preparations are underway in Mexico and Cuba for the apostolic visit of Pope Benedict XVI, scheduled for next 23 to 28 March.
“A double visit to reinvigorate the Church's mission in Latin America,” said Professor Guzman Carriquiry, Secretary of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America on Vatican Radio: “It is very significant and symbolic that the core of the Holy Father's visit to Mexico is the Mass that he will celebrate on 24 March in the park named after the Bicentennial of the Independence of Latin American Countries.”
The mass will be followed by “a meeting with all Mexican bishops, representatives of all the Latin American Episcopate.”
This will give the Pope “a precious opportunity to address all the people of Latin America, the entire Church in Latin America, directly.”
A Latin America which “in the last ten years, has been undergoing a process of strong economic growth without suffering the effects of the crisis in “first world” countries, and which has seen a reduction in the poverty that still exists.”
Latin America, points out Carriquiry, “emerges with its leading role in world agreements” and “is engaged in a process of integration and development, but must face serious challenges: the defence of its culture of life, the defence and promotion of the truth and beauty of marriage and family, overcoming educational deficits and managing political institutions, the struggle for greater social equity.”
The mission of the Church in Latin America is “fundamental in regenerating and strengthening a very deep and very strong awareness among Latin Americans, of filiation and brotherhood in the lives of our people.”
Benedict XVI “will be the bearer of a message of peace, reconciliation, justice and hope in a country torn by unspeakable violence, with entrenched pockets of poverty and harsh political, ideological polarizations.
“The Pope “will also bear in mind that Mexico is a strategic crossroad that looks to the North - towards the United States, Canada – through economic trade, migration and looks towards the South – to Central America and South America – people to whom it is bound by a historical, cultural and religious substrate. What will happen in Mexico’s future will have a fundamental impact on the American continent.”
And the visit to Cuba is born under the sign of Mary.
In a Latin America which sees the continued advancement of sects, the popular Marian cult may be what revives the spark of a new evangelization in areas where the Church is less present and more secularized.
But around the long awaited visit of the Pontiff the focus is not only on political discussions.
The groups of drug traffickers who operate in the state of Guanajuato, Mexico, where the Pope will travel to at the end of March, have announced a sort of truce, a cessation of violence, on the occasion of the visit by the Pontiff.
Threats have been directed by one of the drug cartels operating in the region, against those who will not respect the truce, and therefore also to other “narco” factions.
La proposal was made public by posters displayed in the streets of several cities in the State.
According to Mexican media this has allegedly been the response of criminal groups that are devastating life in Mexico, to the appeal made by bishops, in order to esnure that the visit of Benedict XVI, from 23 to 26 March, takes place in a climate of peace.
The message, moreover, is attributed by police to the gang that calls itself “The Templar Knights”, and would be addressed to another cartel called “New Generation” or “Jalisco New Generation” an ally of the fugitive Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, considered to be the boss of the most feared drug trafficking in Mexico.
The message was found in the city of León, where the Pope will be during his trip.
It was the Archbishop of this city, Mgr. José Guadalupe Martín Rabágo, who on 22 January asked “that those who cause harm” “consider the time for peace and grace that we are preparing to live”.
The local press interpreted the message of gang “The Templar Knights” as a sort of response to the Archbishop’s appeal. On the other hand, the Mexican Church has always asked the gangs to put down their weapons and the authorities to do everything possible to stop the crimes: over 40,000 murders related to drug mafias since December 2006.
“The Templar Knights”, a group separated from the infamous “Michoacana Family”, which signs its crimes with the words “divine justice”, is known for its ferocity and the ruthless methods it uses.
Commenting on the news, Jorge Raúl Villegas, spokesman for the archdiocese of León, said: “the request for a truce is not just for the visit of the Pope, but forever, and applies to all criminal gangs.”
“We are addressing appeals for a ceasefire, reconciliation and lasting peace - he added – in order to find a solution that is lasting and not only temporary, and will continue to do so before, during and after the Pope's visit, for a peaceful Mexico.”