The “Mexican Pope”- this is how Mexican
Catholics described John Paul II and that is how Karol Wojtyla, himself,
felt.
During his Pontificate he visited the land of Our Lady of
Guadalupe five times and now, three months after his
beatification, the Pope will be returning to the Country thanks to a
special permit issued by the Vatican.
Next 17 August a small vial with the blessed Pope’s blood will arrive in Mexico City to begin a marathon tour that
will end on 15 December, spanning 93 cities.
It will be an intense
journey from North to South, aimed at giving a fresh impetus to the
presence of the Catholic Church in a country plagued by violence and
drug trafficking.
This is why the Congregation for Divine Worship and
the Discipline of the Sacraments have given permission for an extension
to the period of worship of the Blessed John Paul II in Mexican
territory, as well as in Poland and Italy where his liturgical
commemoration is practiced freely.
The relic’s pilgrimage will begin this coming 25 August, in the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe.
Before this, it will be kept in the Apostolic Nunciature where the Pope
stayed whenever he visited the Mexican capital.
The journey will last four months
and the relic will travel to cities such as Puebla, Cancún, Veracruz,
Tabasco, Campeche, Oaxaca, Acapulco, Morelia, Guadalajara, Durango,
Chihuahua, Monterrey, León, Querétaro and Cuernavaca.
During the Mexican Episcopal Conference’s last
plenary assembly, bishops voted unanimously in favour of asking the
Vatican for permission to receive this first class relic which consists
in a vial containing the blessed Pope’s blood.
The blood was taken from John Paul II just before his death in 2005, by doctors at the “Bambino Gesù” hospital in Rome, in case he needed a blood transfusion during the final stages of his illness when his health was fragile.
After his death, the vials (three in total) remained in the custody of the Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul at the hospital, until Benedict XVI approved their beatification.
One of those ampoules was presented at a ceremony
that took place last 1 May in St. Peter’s Square in the Vatican, during
which Wojtyla was added to the Catholic Church’s list of blesseds.
In Mexico, the Pope’s blood will be presented for
public veneration, in a special sarcophagus together with a wax figurine
of the “Pilgrim of Peace” wearing the papal coats of arms.
“The memory and the love he professed for our country
should strengthen the faith of the Mexican people, at a time when our
nation is undergoing a deep social transformation, today, more than
ever, it needs to establish peace and coexistence processes so that we
can build a more just and fraternal Mexico.”
This was the message
communicated in a note signed by the President of the Mexican Episcopal Conference, Carlos Aguiar Retes.
“Let us take this great opportunity to strengthen the
legacy left to us by the Blessed John Paul II, who was able to change
the face of the Church at the beginning of the third millenium,
transforming human lives and influencing the lives of many nations
through the power of the Gospel,” the President said.