President Felipe Calderón visited the Apostolic Nunciature in Mexico
City over the weekend to view blessed Pope John Paul II's relics, which
arrived in the country earlier this month, the Office of the President
said.
The president, first lady Margarita Zavala and the couple's three children visited the nunciature on Sunday.
Calderón viewed "the capsule of blood taken
from John Paul II during his illness, as well as the papal vestments
made by Mexican artisans and placed on a wax figure of the blessed," the
Office of the President said in a statement.
The blood and other relics of Pope John Paul II will be taken to different places in Mexico during a four-month tour.
Mexico, which has a Catholic majority, asked
the Vatican for a visit by the relics a few months after John Paul II
was beatified by Pope Benedict XVI in Rome.
Pope John Paul II visited Mexico five times,
with the last visit coming in 1999, when he presided over the "Meeting
of the Four Generations."