Pope Francis began his travels to Mexico’s “peripheries” by visiting an overcrowded, sprawling settlement known internationally as a hunting ground for girls to force into prostitution and for boys to enlist in the drug trade.
Pope Francis
Pope Makes Long-Awaited Visit to Our Lady of Guadalupe
Pope Francis fulfilled his much-desired wish to pray in silence before the miraculous image of Our Lady of Guadalupe
Fight Corruption, Work for Common Good, Pope Tells Mexican Officials
Pope Francis told Mexico’s president and government officials that the country’s future can be bright only if government and business leaders put an end to a culture of “favors” for the influential and scraps for the poor.
A Brotherly Embrace Brings Pope and Russian Patriarch Together
At long last, Pope Francis and Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill of Moscow embraced, kissing each other three times. “Finally,” the pope told the patriarch Feb. 12 as they met in a lounge at Havana’s Jose Marti International Airport. “We are brothers,” he told the patriarch.
Papal Plane Heading to Cuba
As is his custom at the beginning of a trip, Pope Francis thanked the traveling press corps and semi-apologized for the crazy hours they would work in Cuba Feb. 12 and in Mexico through Feb. 17.
Pope Tells Confessors Not to Be Invasive or Inappropriate
On the eve of sending off “missionaries of mercy” to all corners of the globe, Pope Francis told his specially appointed men that the reassuring strength of God’s love – not the “bludgeon of judgment” – will bring the “lost sheep” back to the fold.
Pope’s Chiapas Visit Will Affirm Controversial Bishop
Long before Pope Francis spoke of a poor church for the poor and taking the church to the peripheries, Bishop Samuel Ruiz Garcia of San Cristobal de Las Casas built the church in southern Chiapas state.
Pope Will View Improved Prison System in Mexico
The Ciudad Juarez prison once symbolized the city’s problems. It suffered 12 riots and 216 murders in 2010. Last year, there were no riots registered in the prison and only one homicide, according to Chihuahua state statistics.
Vatican: Pope Will Not Make Acting Debut
Pope Francis will not be an actor in a proposed movie based on the Gospels, a Vatican spokesman said.
Papal Trip to Mexico Is Mission of Mercy
Pope Francis said his reasons for his apostolic visit to Mexico Feb. 12-17 are “easy and simple.” “I want to come as a missionary of mercy and peace,” the pope said in a video message to the Mexican people.