From Rome to Mexico

The Holy Father began his 23rd Apostolic voyage yesterday.  This time he's headed to Mexico and Cuba.  Yesterday morning, the Vatican Information Service published the news of his departure, and told of some of the observations noted by Fr. Frederico Lombardi, SJ, the Director of the Vatican Press Office.  Among the reasons for this voyage, Fr. Lombardi lists:

• The bicentenary of the independence of the peoples of Latin America; 
• the Mexicans' enthusiastic desire to welcome the Pope; 
• the twentieth anniversary of diplomatic relations between Mexico and the Holy See, and 
• the four hundredth anniversary of the discovery of the image of "Nuestra Senora de la Caridad del Cobre" in Cuba, with its concomitant Holy Year.

 However, Fr, Lombardi notes, "this voyage to the heart of the Americas also has a specific purpose. It will be a journey of hope. Hope for Mexicans, a people with immense resources and potential, but currently afflicted by serious problems which weigh on their present and future, first among them the problem of violence".

What a wonderful source of hope for one of the most populous Catholic countries in the world!   Words of the Holy Father's message of hope will appear here (as soon as I can post them), and are also available on the Vatican's website.