Pope Francis to visit Chiapas and Morelia in Mexico

Pope Francis will celebrate Mass in Juarez at the U.S.-Mexico border in February and will urge support for immigrants entering the U.S. celebrates a mass on the occasion of the Virgin Mary of Guadalupe festivity in St. Peter’s Basilica, at the Vatican, Saturday, Dec. 12, 2015.

Pope Francis will celebrate Mass at 4 p.m.at the former grounds of the Feria Expo, next to the Benito Juarez Olympic Stadium and just feet away from the border.

During his time in Mexico City, Francis will lead a mass at the basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe, the shrine of the country’s patron saint.

Parishes on both sides of the border will be provided with tickets, according to the diocese, which plans to hold events in conjunction with the papal visit and hold a celebration at the El Paso border fence along Loop 375/Cesar Chavez highway. From there, he will travel via motorcade to Cereso prison where he will meet and pray with inmates. Pope Francis is expected to talk about the realities of living in a border city.

The pope’s trip to El Paso’s sister city on February 17 is his last stop in a five-day trip around Mexico. “The details of this liturgy are still being developed”, Seitz said in a statement.

This will be Francis’ first visit to Mexico but his fourth to Latin America. Scheduling complications made the idea hard, and the Pope decided instead to visit Cuba before coming to the U.S. Many migrants also use Ciudad Juarez as a point from which to cross into the United States.

“There’s going to be so many people”, Gonzales said.

The pope is likely to address social issues during his visit including violence stemming from the drug war as well as migration. But he said: “We can’t let ourselves be overcome by weariness”. “I think they will also be touched as many have been worldwide”. “Do not forget that Declaration which proclaimed that all men and women are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights and that governments exist in order to protect and defend those rights”, he said.