Pope opens Mexico visit after historic stop with patriarch

The pontiff’s five-day visit included a prayer before the Virgin of Guadalup…

The pope earlier this month urged Mexicans to fight against corruption and brutal drug gang violence. At one point Francis tried on a sombrero from one of the musicians. “Do not fear transparency”.

The Church leaders vowed to work together for peace.

“Be vigilant so that your vision will not be darkened by the gloomy mist of worldliness”, he exhorted.

“Do not allow yourselves to be corrupted by trivial materialism or by the seductive illusion of underhanded agreements”, he added in an allusion to suggestions that bishops sometimes smooth things out behind closed doors with corrupt officials and even criminals, instead of acting publicly. The Pope arrived on Friday for the six-day visit. Check out Tom Reese’s eBook offering thoughtful questions and in-depth analysis. Cuban President Raul Castro stood to the side during the ceremony, enjoying another moment in the global limelight after receiving Francis a year ago and restoring diplomatic relations with the United States recently, meeting President Barack Obama in Panama in April.

“A people with a youthful population is a people able to renew and transform itself; it is an invitation to look to the future with hope and, in turn, it challenges us in a positive way here and now”, the Pope said Saturday.

His advice was off script, and these off-the-cuff remarks have become somewhat of a hallmark for the pope.

More than 100,000 people have been killed in Mexico’s drug violence over the last decade and some 26,000 are missing. They also said large-scale humanitarian aid was required to tend to refugees fleeing Syria and Iraq, lamenting the “massive exodus of Christians”.

On Saturday morning, cheers erupted as Francis’ popemobile pulled out of his Mexico City residence.

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President Enrique Pena Nieto, suffering the lowest approval ratings of a Mexican leader in a quarter century, and his wife met Francis on a red carpet.

Pope Francis also alluded to the folkloric Santa Muerte, a skeletal pseudo-saint attracting hordes of followers in Mexico and Latin America, including many in the illegal drug trade.

The pope travels Monday to Chiapas, Mexico’s poorest state, where he will preside over a Mass conducted in three indigenous languages. “He loves Mexico more than his predecessor”.

A nation “with abundant natural resources and with an enormous biodiversity”, Mexico’s geographical location and indigenous multiculturalism fosters an “ancestral wisdom” one of the country’s “greatest biographical resources”, the Pope said. Francis is also sticking to an economy vehicle when he’s not in a popemobile, using a tiny white Fiat to move around. “How unfortunate you are if you sit on your laurels!” “You stand on the shoulders of giants: bishops, priests, religious and lay faithful… who have offered their lives so that the Church can fulfill her own mission”.

“We are brothers”, Francis said as he embraced Kirill. “It is very clear that this is the will of God”, Francis said. “It has all been worthwhile to see him and feel his presence”.

The atmosphere was increasingly festive and generous.

At the iconic Basilica of the Virgin of Guadalupe, the Argentine pontiff explained the origin of the church’s legend.

With hundreds of people gathered, the Holy Father spent about 10 minutes addressing the crowd. He greeted disabled children as well as a mariachi band dressed in traditional clothing, pausing to briefly put on a musician’s black sombrero.

“We do not need ‘princes, ‘ but rather a community of the Lord’s witnesses”, he said.