Pope Francis is set to
face on his February 12-18 Mexico trip many of the ills he has
been fighting since he was Archbishop Jorge Mario Bergoglio of
Buenos Aires.
In pitting the Church against the power of 'narcos' drug
lords and addressing the woes of migrant dramas, Francis will
tackle some of the multiple scourges afflicting the wounded
giant of Latin America.
The closely watched trip, his first official visit to
Mexico, will also be historic because of a stopover meeting at
Havana airport with Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill in a
further step towards healing a 1,000-year schism.
On the eve of Francis's departure, on Thursday, Vatican
Secretary of State Pietro Parolin said the Catholic Church must
denounce crime.
"The pope's presence in Mexico," he said, aims to "help
rediscover and live, in daily life, the announcement and
testimony of mercy".
The Church is called on "to denounce the evil that is
present, raise its voice against all those negative phenomena
starting with corruption, narcotrafficking, violence, and crime,
which prevent the country from swiftly proceeding along the path
of material and spiritual progress".
In a year of more economic gloom and a steady news drip of
horrific drug violence, the Mexicans are awaiting Francis with
hope, reckoning he can build on the many trips to Mexico made by
pope John Paul II.
Each stage, each State to be visited by the pope has a
different profile within a huge country with a population of 120
million and the world's second highest Catholic population, a
Latina American colossus behind only Brazil.
Francis will have to show great diplomatic tact and also a
firm hand in addressing institutions targeted by civil society
on many fronts, from corruption to inefficiency to the
infiltration of narcos power in the land and into finances.
This was confirmed by the June escape of narcoboss Chapo
Guzman, captured a month ago, and the tragedy of 43 young people
who disappeared in 2014 in the State of Gurerro.
Looming large in the background of the visit will be the
two major national emergencies, migrants and narcotraffickers,
as people trafficking to the United States becomes a business as
lucrative as cocaine.
The pope, who always highlights the importance of
borderlands, will visit among others the southern frontier of
the country, in Chiapas, bordering on Guatemala, and the
northern one at Ciudad Juarez on the border with the United
States.
Immediately after arriving from Italy, after the Cuba stop
to meet Kirill, Francis will find the megapolis of Mexico City
with its 20 million inhabitants and numerous problems.
The next stage of the visit, Ecatepec, 30 km from the
capital, is one immense periphery where there is crime, internal
migrations, 'femicides', and an area of 'ciudades perdidas', the
equivalent of Brazil's favelas.
Then the pope will move onto Chiapas, the country's
poorest State where he will find people who claim their descent
from the Mayas - tzotziles, tzeltales, and lacandones, to name a
few - as well as the entry point for central American migrants
aiming for the US.
Michoacan, then, is a State besieged by violence, where
alliances between narcos and power are ongoing as well as
clashes between the gangs and self-defence groups.
Finally, at the end of his trip, Francis will reach Ciudad
Juarez, until recently considered one of the most dangerous
places on Earth.
In that city he will visit the notorious Cereso 3 prison,
which holds many of Mexico's most feared narcos hitmen.
On the eve of the pope's visit there was a mutiny at
another ill-famed jail, at Monterrey, in which at least 52
people died.
The pope's whole trip will be closely watched by the
international media, but the preceding stage, the Havana meeting
with Kirill, will perhaps be even more powerfully scrutinized.
Francis, who during his time in Buenos Aires established
close links to the local chapter of the Russian Orthodox Church,
will meet Kirill at Havana's Jose' Marti' International Airport,
where the two religious leaders will sign a joint statement.
Kirill said last week he wanted to meet Francis outside
Europe because "Europe is linked to the hard story of the
divisions and conflicts between Christians," according to
Metropolitan Hilarion Alfeyev, head of the external relations
department of the Russian Orthodox Church.
The question of the so-called Uniate churches, long a bone
of contention between the two sides, could now be resolved, many
hope.
Another wall may be coming down, according to observers of
the two Churches.
The Havana meeting was hailed by Cardinal Peter Erdo of
Hungary, head of Europe's bishops, who said it marks "a further
step towards the unity and the common testimony of Christians".
Budapest Archbishop Erdo said in a letter to Francis and
Kyrill that "this historic meeting, which happily sets the seal
on decades of dialogue between the Holy See and the Patriarchate
of the Russian Orthodox Church, also comforts the Council of
European Bishops' Conferences (CCEE) in its choice of investing
in this dialogue".
The meeting has been in the works a long time, said Vatican
spokesman, Father Federico Lombardi.
"This meeting...is the first of its kind in history and
will mark an important milestone in relations between the two
Churches," the joint statement said.
"The Holy See and the Moscow Patriarchate hope it will also
be a sign of hope for all men of good will".
Kirill, the primate of the Russian Orthodox Church since
2009, will be on an official visit to Cuba.
The meeting has been in the works for years and will be
aimed at a further thaw in relations.
Once-frosty relations between the Catholic and Russian
Orthodox Churches have seesawed in recent years.
The Holy See and Russia were able to formally upgrade their
relations from 'official' to 'diplomatic' in December 2009
following a gradual thawing of relations between the Catholic
and Russian Orthodox Churches.
The Russian Church had accused the Catholics of trying to
lure people over to their brand of Christianity on their back
yard, prompting unfriendly relations between the Holy See and
the Russian state too.
Russian President Vladimir Putin was one of the few heads
of state not to attend late pope John Paul II's funeral in 2005.
But the two Churches have been increasingly seeking to
launch joint initiatives on areas of concern to them since the
papacy of Benedict XVI, such as growing secularism in Europe as
well as the increasing persecution of Christians around the
world and especially in the Middle East.
Father Stefano Caprio, a lecturer at the Pontifical
Oriental Institute for Russian History and Culture, told ANSA he
thought Putin was also looking to the meeting to help end
Russia's international isolation due to sanctions imposed after
its annexation of the Crimea and involvement in the eastern
Ukraine conflict.
The meeting between Francis Kirill will last approximately
three hours, Russian news agency Interfax reported Thursday
citing a source at the Moscow Patriarchate.
The meeting at Havana's Jose' Marti' International Airport
will begin at 2.15 pm local time, with 15 minutes open to the
public.
At the end of the meeting the pope and Kirill will exchange
gifts and sign a joint declaration, the contents of which were
"agreed" on Wednesday evening, according to Metropolitan
Hilarion Alfeyev, head of the external relations department of
the Russian Orthodox Church.
However, the declaration can be modified during the course
of the meeting between the two religious leaders, Alfeyev said.
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