Indigenous people await pope in Mexico’s Chiapas

“The Pope came to tell us that the Mexican state should apologize, the way he did”, indigenous activist Mardonio Carballo told VICE News.

Then before heading inside for the night, Francis added his usual refrain: “Don’t forget to pray for me”.

Pope Francis has arrived at a stadium full of cheering Mexican priests, nuns and seminarians for a Mass in the heart of Mexico’s drug-trafficking country.

Tomorrow, he will travel by plane to Morelia, the capital of Michoacán, which became infamous some years back for the violence linked to the drug wars.

He celebrated Mass under a blazing sun at an altar erected on a dais in front of a painted wooden imitation of the ancient façade of the cathedral of San Cristobal.

Many hoped that the pope’s words would heal the country. He warned of modern ideologies that seek to destroy the family and called for it to be protected.

It is true that living in family is not always easy, and can often be painful and stressful but, as I have often said referring to the Church, I prefer a wounded family that makes daily efforts to put love into play, to a family and society that is sick from isolationism or a habitual fear of love.

Pope Francis affirmed the right of Mexico’s 11 million indigenous people to live in a land “where oppression, mistreatment and humiliation are not the currency of the day”.

The pope cited the example of Michoacan’s first bishop in the 16th century, Vasco Vazquez de Quiroga, who stood up for indigenous Purhepechas, who were “sold, humiliated and homeless in marketplaces”.

Ruiz died in 2011.

Both were beloved by indigenous people and widely reviled among the wealthy classes and much of the church hierarchy. Francis recently lifted the ban.

During Tuesday’s Mass, Francis is expected to offer words of encouragement to Mexican clergy as they try to minister to people suffering from such violence. Later in the day he also authorized that mass could be said in indigenous languages, something the dead bishop would have undoubtedly approved of. Official approval for those languages is still pending.

At the municipal stadium in San Cristobal de las Casas, the place personally chosen by Francis, the pope slammed “how in a systematic and structural way, your communities have been misunderstood and excluded from society”.

“I’m indigenous… I want to thank him for paying attention to us, the poor”, she said.

Pope Francis went on to deliver an impassioned and poetic defense of Mother Nature, denouncing what he called “one of history’s biggest environmental crises”.

Francis celebrated the Indians during a visit to the southern state of Chiapas, a center of indigenous culture.

He also highlighted the need to care for the environment.

In the colonial mountain city of San Cristobal de las Casas, the pope will visit the church that houses the tomb of Samuel Ruiz, who was a champion for indigenous rights and served as a mediator between the Zapatistas and the government.

Improvising at times from his text, Francis told the crowd that he understood that for young Mexicans it was hard to feel their worth “when you are continually exposed to the loss of friends or relatives at the hands of the drug trade, of drugs themselves, of criminal organizations that sow terror”. It’s been a busy week for the pope, who’s been in Mexico since last Friday.

Between masses, the pope visited the city’s 17th century cathedral, where he met with children and was serenaded by a choir.

Despite the pope’s overture, residents of Chiapas said they believe Francis is coming mostly to confirm their faith, not their status as indigenous.