Pope Francis kicks off Mexico tour addressing drug trafficking and violence

Pope Francis stopped briefly in Cuba for a historic meeting with Patriarch Kirill I, head of the Russian Orthodox Church, prior to the pontiff’s week-long visit to Mexico.

By Joshua Partlow,Gabriela Martinez-February 13

MEXICO CITY — Pope Francis threw himself into the most contentious of issues roiling Mexico during his first full day here, calling on President Enrique Peña Nieto and his government to protect citizens and bring justice to a country wracked with violence and corruption.

Kicking off the first leg of his six-day tour of the Spanish-speaking world’s largest Catholic country, the pontiff offered an unvarnished assessment of Mexico’s troubles and the need for honesty and faith to overcome them. His first speech, addressing Peña Nieto and other top Mexican officials, took place inside the National Palace, as tens of thousands of people filled the Zocalo plaza outside and listened to remarks on jumbo-screens.

“Each time we seek the path of privileges or benefits for a few, to the detriment of the good of all, the life of society becomes a fertile soil for corruption,” the Pope said, “drug trade, exclusion of different cultures, violence and also human trafficking, kidnapping and death.”

The Pope said Mexico's political class had the duty to give its people access to "an adequate home, dignified work, food, real justice, effective security, and a peaceful and sane environment."

One of the world’s mega-cities ground to a halt to greet Francis, with roads barricaded miles from his events, and police and soldiers out in force to maintain security amid the hundreds of thousands who came to get a glimpse of the popular pontiff. Students were off from classes on Friday and many businesses closed as residents lined the streets waiting for a glimpse of the Pope-mobile as it wended through the streets.

 

Over the next week, Francis plans to visit the extremes of Mexico, from the poor, heavily indigenous southern border state of Chiapas, which has become a way-station for thousands of Central American migrants, to the northern border town of Ciudad Juarez, which is recovering from its dark drug war years.

Those backdrops, plus a planned stop in the volatile western state of Michoacan, gives Francis plenty of opportunity, if he chooses, to highlight Mexico’s recurrent failings with violence, immigration, poverty and government corruption. Plus, with anti-immigrant sentiment surging in the American presidential race, the pope could enter that fray by his example of showing compassion for the downtrodden. With all the problems in Mexico, “we need the pope to show us the light,” said Leticia Gutierrez Valderrama, a nun who directs an organization that works with migrants.

Read More