MEXICO CITY, Jul 30 (CWNews.com) - Pope John Paul II arrived in Mexico City Tuesday evening, showing the signs of weariness as he neared the end of a 11-day trip, but obviously delighted to visit Mexico once again.
In recognition of his weakened physcial condition-- and of the high altitude that puts greater demandson the body-- the Pontiff chose to leave the airplane by escalator. When he had first arrived in Toronto last week, he surprisers onlookers by walking down the airplane steps, rather than using the escalator as he had done on several other recent occasions.
Massive throngs are expected to greet the Pope during his stay in Mexico, and even before his plane arrived, crowds began to gather along the route that he would take from the airport to the residence of the papal nuncio, where he spent Tuesday night.
«It is an immense joy to be able to come, for the fifth time, to this land, where I began my itinerary as Peter's successor,» the Holy Father remarked during a short airport welcoming ceremony. Mexico's President Vicente Fox greeted the Pope, in a tone and even language markedly different from that his predecessors had used during recent papal visits. Fox, who proudly identifies himself as a Catholic, is the first Mexican leader since 1929 who is not a member of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), the longtime ruling bloc that once persecuted the Catholic Church. Although PRI officials have eased their anti-clerical stance, it was noteworthy that when Pope John Paul first arrived in Mexico on his first foreign visit as Pontiff in 1979, then-President Jose Lopez Portillo addressed him as «sir» and invited him to «meet with people of your faith.»
Fox, by contrast, referred to the Pope as «Holy Father,» and welcomed him on behalf of all the Mexican people. But Fox's presence was not without its own element of controversy, since the Mexican leader has divorced and remarried (his new wife is also divorced)-- in a move that was condemned by the Mexican bishops and the Vatican.
On Wednesday the Pope will preside at the canonization of Juan Diego, in a ceremony to take place at the Guadalupe basilica. The immense popularity of Juan Diego, especially among the native Indian peoples of Mexico, ensures that many thousands of people will attend.
The Guadalupe basilica, located on Tepeyca Hill outside Mexico City, is among the most popular sanctuaries in the world. Each year the basilica receives over 10 million visitors.
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30. juli 2002