In stern message, pope shines light on needs of poor
MEXICO CITY — Pope Francis issued a tough-love message to Mexico’s political and church elites Saturday, telling them they have a duty to provide their people with security, justice and courageous pastoral care to confront the drug-inspired violence and corruption that are tormenting the country.
The raucous welcome Francis received from cheering Mexicans who lined his motorcade route contrasted sharply with his pointed criticism of how church and state leaders here have often failed their people, especially the poorest and most marginalized.
“Experience teaches us that each time we seek the path of privileges or benefits for a few to the detriment of the good of all, sooner or later the life of society becomes a fertile soil for corruption, drug trade, exclusion of different cultures, violence and also human trafficking, kidnapping and death, bringing suffering and slowing down development,” he told government authorities at the presidential palace.
In a subsequent hard-hitting speech to his own bishops, Francis challenged church leaders known for their deference to Mexico’s wealthy and powerful to courageously denounce the “insidious threat” posed by the drug trade and not hide behind their own privilege and careers. The speech was met with tepid applause, with only a handful of bishops standing in ovation.
Francis’ five-day trip to Mexico is shining an uncomfortable spotlight on the church’s shortcomings and the government’s failure to solve entrenched social ills that plague many parts of the country — poverty, rampant drug-inspired gangland killings, extortion, disappearances of women, crooked cops and failed public services.
Over the coming days, Francis will travel to the crime- ridden Mexico City suburb of Ecatepec, preach to Indians in poverty-stricken Chiapas, offer solidarity to victims of drug violence in Morelia and, finally, pay respects to migrants who have died trying to reach the United States with a crossborder Mass in Ciudad Juarez.
The grueling schedule appeared to be already taking a toll: By Saturday evening, Francis seemed tired and winded. The 79-year-old appeared to doze off during Mass and lost his balance and fell into a chair set up for him to pray before the image of the Virgin of Guadalupe.
Francis began his first full day in the country with a winding ride into the capital’s historic center to the delight of tens of thousands of Mexicans greeting history’s first Latin American pope.